Graduating from the Aboveground
by Sheharezade
Summary: Being completely revised! It has been 23 years since Sarah first visited the Labyrinth. But after a terrible tragedy in her life, her 18 year old daughter puts the past behind her and wishes herself to the Labyrinth, with no desire to leave.
1. The Graduation

Disclaimer: I don't own the Labyrinth sigh or any of the characters from the Labyrinth. I do however, own Melissa and her friend.

Alright. This is my first fanfic, so if it's horrible, please don't bite my head off. Especially not today, cause yesterday was my birthday. Yea for me! But anyway, if you like it, please review, and if not, well, helpful criticism is greatly appreciated.

And without any further ado, I present to you: Graduating from the Aboveground

Sarah held the video camera above the heads of her fellow viewers. It's not everyday her only daughter graduates from high school, and she wanted to get every instant of it on film. She waved up at Melissa, who was the one with the gold vest over her long blue gown. That's right. Her daughter was a straight A student, and the class' valedictorian.

She had become the student that her mother never was. Melissa beamed in response to her mothers wave as the principal of the school gave his speech, which had turned out to be rather boring considering it was just another lecture about making good choices as the graduates grew older.

Melissa looked over to Rachel, her best friend since they had started kindergarten, and whispered so that only they could hear, "You know, I thought we were supposed to stay awake at graduation, but he seems more intent on putting everyone to sleep." Rachel giggled at this and Melissa turned to face the audience once more, a smile dancing upon her face the entire time. After beaming once again to her mother, Melissa let her eyes wander around the scene. They had chosen to have graduation outside on the football field this year, since the weather would be perfect for it.

She looked at all of the people in the audience and, just as she was about to make another comment about Mr. Rochire's boring-as-all-get-out speech to Rachel, she notice an owl make its way over the heads of many of the onlookers to a branch on a nearby tree. Her eyes followed the owl to where it now sat on a tree just behind the benches where everyone sat, watching the graduates waiting patiently for the man at the podium to end his tiresome speech. The owl was exquisite; he was mainly white with a very small amount of auburn coloring on his back. _That's weird. I thought owls only came out at night._ She thought inwardly. But that wasn't even the weirdest part. No, the weirdest part was that she could have sworn it was looking directly at her. _No. No. Why would an owl be staring at me? Stop being paranoid Melissa. This is your graduation. You should be happy, not paranoid!_

Rachel looked at her and whispered something. When she didn't respond however, she subtly elbowed her in the ribs. Melissa turned and looked quizzically at her. "What?" she whispered softly. Rachel just nodded towards the podium where her gaze met that of Mr. Rochire's.

"Melissa," he said smiling at her and shooting her a get-up-here-before-you-embarrass-me-anymore look. She turned to look out at her mother, then back to Mr. Rochire. She realized that it was time for her to give her valedictorian speech. She smiled, as much more color than she would have liked rushed to her cheeks, and walked up to the podium. She had memorized her speech the night before – not an easy feat since it was rather lengthy. But at least it was more interesting than Mr. Rochire's – not to mention about half as long as his had been. She was rather good at making speeches, though she didn't always like to, so it went rather smoothly. She gestured at all the right times to her fellow classmates and even once or twice to her principal and the rest of the faculty sitting near the graduates. Just as her speech was supposed to end, she spontaneously put in a quote of her own as the conclusion. "No matter what happens from this point on in our lives, we can never forget our dreams, because they will never forget us." Just as she said that she saw the owl that had been the object of her gaze a few moments prior to her speech nod it's head a few times, which was more than a little unexpected. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, our senior class!" There was an applause and a few whistles from the crowd as the class song began to play and they began to walk down the steps of the stage very orderly to be greeted by their families and friends.

"Oh honey, I'm so proud of you!" Sarah gushed as her daughter stepped off the stage and wrapped Melissa in a monstrous hug as she did so.

Melissa managed to wriggle her way out from the hug and reply to her mother, "Geeze mom, you almost sound like you didn't expect me to graduate." She put on a fake I'm-so-hurt look.

Sarah smiled at her. "I was talking about your speech. Now come on. Let's go home. I've got something to tell you."

Melissa looked at her mother suspiciously. "What?"

Her mother merely chuckled. "I'll tell you later. But for now, you might want to change into something a bit more comfortable. We're going to your grandparents' house today. Toby's gonna meet us there tomorrow morning."

Melissa's face brightened at this. She loved visiting her grandparents, and uncle Toby always had a tendency to try to spoil her rotten. She didn't press the matter any further as they walked to the car. Along the way her mother told her about how beautiful she looked up there with her hair all curly and just the right amount of makeup on and how wonderfully smooth the speech went. Melissa wasn't really paying any attention. All she could think about was that owl. The main thing she remembered about it was that it had eye's that were just as mismatched as her own. One of them was emerald green and the other an icy blue. _I could have sworn it was looking right at me!_

She didn't have time to ponder this any further though, because right at that moment her mother stopped dead in her tracks to look at a man leaning casually against their car. He was tall and quite attractive with his wild blond hair and well toned body. He was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt with the first few buttons open to reveal a bit of his chest under his black jacket. Her mother was starring at him with her mouth slightly hanging open. "Mom?" she asked her mother cautiously. "All you all right? Do you know him?"

Sarah snapped back to reality at this. She turned her attention to her daughter and said, "Yes. Wait here a moment, will you?" Without giving Melissa a chance to respond, she walked over to the man and grabbed him by the arm to pull him out of Melissa's ear shot. But she didn't need to hear what they were saying to know that they knew each other _very_ well, and for a very long time. Her mother seemed upset with him as he looked to be defending himself. Every once in a while she would see the man point to Melissa or look in her direction. Every time he did this however, Sarah would either look in the same direction as him or try to pull his arm back down so he wouldn't draw too much attention to them. _They look like a fighting couple the way their acting._

After a few moments of bickering, Sarah returned to her daughters side as Melissa watched the man reluctantly walk away, looking back only once to smile at the pair of them. "C'mon Mel. Let's get going," she said after watching the man walk away as well. They both got into the car and the rest of the way home was passed in silence. Melissa changed out of her graduation gown and quickly packed an overnight bag with a few changes of clothes – just in case they decided to stay a few extra days – and everything she could think of that could occupy some free time she might have, including a few cd's, a bottle of nail polish, a small makeup bag, and a little red book with gold letters reading "Labyrinth" on the cover. Within the next half hour they were on the road again, starting out on the two hour drive to her grandparents, Karen and Jonathan's house.

They drove the first forty-five minutes with not a word spoken between them. Neither of the women seemed too eager to speak. But not long after that, Melissa decided to break the silence by asking a question that had been going through her mind since the end of graduation. "Mom, who was that guy back there?"

Her mother looked at her, startled, for a moment, then she turned to face the road once more and sighed. "That was your father," she said softly. But not softly enough for Melissa to miss what was said.

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "That...he...but why," she stuttered. Finally she managed to regain her voice and say, "Why didn't you introduce me?"

Sarah shrugged. "He already knew who you were. He was at your graduation almost the entire time, which reminds me; he wanted me to compliment you on your speech." She turned to face her daughter for a moment just before thunder began to rumble and rain began to pour from the heavens and she had to turn back to turn on the windshield wipers and focus her gaze on the road. But she hadn't missed the confused look that was now spread across her daughters face. "He was supposed to meet us at my parents' house this weekend. I wasn't prepared to introduce you two on the spot like that." She explained to her daughter.

Melissa nodded. "I see," she said under her breath and turning to look out at the thunderstorm that was raging outside her window. "What's his name?" She asked just barely loud enough for her mother to hear her.

Sarah took a deep breath and slowly released it. After having read that book so many times her daughter would never believe her. "Jareth," she said simply.

A/N: Well, there's the first chapter. Hope you liked it. I know it's starting off slow, but stick with me here. I know where I'm gonna go with this. The next chapter will be better, and it will probably be up within the next few hours seeing as how it's late – well, technically it's early – and I can't sleep, so I'm just gonna stay up writing. I had to end it though. I thought it was getting a bit too long to hold some people's attention, but if you made it this far, then stick with me.

Please Review!


	2. A Terrible Accident

Okay, so, thank you to those of you who read it and reviewed. You make me feel so happy! But, anyway, enough chatter from my part. Here goes the second chapter...

**A Terrible Accident**

Melissa's head sharply turned to face her mother. "Jareth?" she asked still stunned. "That's his name? Jareth?" When all her mother did was nod very seriously, she burst out laughing. Her mother had been quite a good actress when she was younger and had starred in a few plays, so Melissa had no doubts that her mother was just goofing around. "Alright mom," she said after she had regained control of herself. "Very funny. But I want to know his name." she said, still as persistent as her mother ever had been.

Sarah shook her head slightly and heaved another heavy sigh. "I'm quite serious Melissa. Your father's name is Jareth. He has no last name. It's just Jareth. I wouldn't lie to you about your father."

Melissa's face slowly dropped the happy, playful look it had held before her mother had spoken. It was now replaced by a look that was filled with curiosity and confusion. "It...His name really is Jareth? I thought that was just a joke. Ya know, because of that story you told me when I was younger and that book you gave me and all." She felt a little foolish now after having laughed like that about what her mother had told her.

Sarah nodded and looked briefly over to her daughter once again. "Yes, I could understand why you'd think I was joking." She smiled over at her daughter and noticed the curiosity that filled those mismatched eyes that she had gotten from him. "You have his eyes you know." Sarah looked back to the road. The storm was getting worse and she couldn't afford to take her eyes away again.

Melissa turned to look out her window as a flash of lightning blazed outside her window. "I kinda guessed that. I mean, I don't exactly have your eyes." She smiled, thinking of the man who she had seen earlier that day. The one time she actually sees him, and she doesn't even know it. Irony could be so cruel sometimes.

Sarah wanted to look to her daughter, to see the expression on her face, but to take her eyes off the road again would be too dangerous to risk. "No, you don't have my eyes." She smiled, thinking of what it would be like when she introduced her daughter to the man she had loved for so long, the man who was her father. "Be proud of those eyes Mel. They set you apart, just as they set him apart." Her grin broadened as she thought of looking into his eyes. "I can't wait for you to meet him."

Melissa had been watching her mother since she had told her to be proud of her eyes. She could tell from the expression on her face where her thoughts lie. As her smile widened, her mother truly appeared to be a woman in love; a woman who had been in love since she had first met him, if the stories that were told to her as an infant were any indication. _She looks so happy._ As she was thinking this, somewhere off in the distance, thunder rumbled once again, but this time it made her jump practically out of her seat. Her mother also seemed to have been startled by the sudden boom, and her face had been cleared of it's once over joyous expression and was now replaced by one of determination, and even a bit of fear.

Sarah's mind was wiped of any thoughts pertaining Jareth after the most recent rolling of thunder. She was beginning to fear what this storm may hold for her. She had never driven in weather this bad before, and she had no desire to try it again anytime soon. But she did recall watching the news earlier and hearing that all day it was going to be sunny and they'd be lucky to get rain by the end of next week. And now her she was, driving in more rain than they had gotten all month. _It just isn't fair!_ She thought inwardly. Inside, she was screaming that phrase over and over and over again. But on the outside, she appeared simply determined. But then she noticed a large white owl, - it was slightly smaller than the one she had seen at her graduation, but still quite large - swoop down in front of their car from what seemed to be out of nowhere. Sarah cursed under her breath, but managed to not hit the bird without swerving too much. Within the next minute they were on the same lane as before and, aside from Melissa holding onto the dashboard like her life depended on it, everything was as it had been before he had swooped in on them. But she could not, for the life of her, figure out why _he_ had done that.

Melissa gripped the dashboard with white knuckles, her arms outstretched in front of her, while she sat there, now more terrified than she'd like to admit. _What on Earth was that for?!_ Just then, she noticed an owl – she could have sworn it was the same one as before, fly past them once more before doubling back and settling in the middle of the road.

Sarah's eyes widened at this and she swerved a bit from the swoop, and then once again to avoid hitting the owl. That's where she made her mistake. The road was so slippery that their car began to spin out of control. "JARETH!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Melissa looked at her mother in horror as the car went careening out of control. Soon they were flying towards a ditch at a terrifying speed and as the car tumbled down the slight hill, both girls were screaming. Almost instantly after the car had began it's descent down the hill, it hit a tree, and both of their heads snapped forward and back again. After that, all Melissa remembered was her mother saying, "Jareth, I need you." Melissa turned to look at her unconscious mother before everything went black.

**Meanwhile, at the castle beyond the Goblin City...**

Jareth sat lounging on his throne, one leg draped casually over the armrest as his back rested against the other one. He had been thinking about Sarah and Melissa. He knew he was supposed to wait until later on tonight to meet her, but he just couldn't miss her graduation. Twenty-some years ago, he wouldn't have cared about seeing some girl graduating from an Aboveground school, but Sarah had changed all that. She had changed him. But seeing her graduate wasn't enough. He'd just had to meet her. That part in her speech about never forgetting your dreams made him glow with pride. That was his daughter up there, the best in her class, and she was telling everyone there what he'd always told Sarah. He grinned at the thought of finally seeing his daughter and getting to know her better. Sure he'd always watched over her, and he'd spoken to Sarah every once in a while, but that wasn't enough for him anymore. He had become so lost in his thoughts for a moment there that he didn't even notice a goblin enter the room and the first cough to get his attention, but he did notice the second cough. His head shot up at this and he turned to look straight at the one who'd disturbed his thoughts. He relaxed slightly when he saw who was there. "Oh, Hogbrain, it's you. Is everything ready?" he asked, slightly irritated.

Hoggle nodded to the Goblin King and said, "Yes, yer Majesty. We just finished puttin them pictures in her room."

Jareth nodded once in acknowledgement before he heard Sarah call out "Jareth, I need you." He immediately jumped off his throne and conjured a crystal in his hand to see Sarah's car lying in a ditch with his wife and daughter lying in there unconscious. He let the crystal drop and altered his form to that of a white owl and took off to the place where Sarah and Melissa lay in their beat up car. As he flew out the window, Hoggle bent down to pick up the crystal that had caused his king to go flying off so suddenly. When he saw the image that was there, he gasped and staggered backwards, out of the throne room to warn the rest of the goblins.

**Back at the car...**

Melissa's eyelids opened slowly after a while. She didn't know how long she'd been out, but she did know that she now had a throbbing headache, the likes of which probably meant that she had a concussion. She groaned and looked over to her mother, who still lay unconscious in the seat across from her. Her mother's head was bleeding. With that thought in mind, she reached up and felt the point on her head where the pain was at its sharpest, and surely enough, when she withdrew her hand, blood was on her finger tips.

As she sit there looking at the blood, she saw something coming at them from a distance. Melissa looked up to see that owl that she had seen earlier that day coming at them with an amazing speed. He stopped right in front of their car and, quite to her surprise, a man had risen from the owls place. _I guess I'm dreaming. I'm still unconscious and I'm dreaming. But I thought you couldn't feel pain in your dreams._ She blinked slowly a few times as the man came around to her side of the car, concern mixed with fear filled his eyes as he looked upon them. He opened the door and carefully undid Melissa's seatbelt and picked her up to lay her on the grass a few feet away from the car. Next, he went to her mother's side of the banged up vehicle and did the same with her. When they were both safely out of the car and lying on the ground, he looked them over with troubled eyes. He touched the cut on Sarah's head and mumbled something which Melissa could not hear. She tried to look over at her mother, but found the strain of moving too much anymore.

After closing up as much of her wound as possible, the man turned his attention to the other woman resting on the ground. Her eyes were open, but they weren't focusing on anything; she just stared into the now clear, night sky. She could feel the wet ground on her back, and wondered if her clothes were wet. She knew she wasn't thinking clearly if all she could think about was whether or not her shirt was wet from the storm that had caused this. But as she gazed heavenward, she saw the man's face now hovering over her. He was saying something, but she couldn't make out what it was. But she didn't have to strain to hear what he was saying for long, because another car had just pulled up along the side of the road and a middle aged man was getting out, drawing the man's attention from the young woman to the other driver who was now asking him questions. But their conversation was not what was going through Melissa's mind. The only thing she was thinking about was the man's eyes. They were just like hers. And then it clicked. This was the same man from her graduation. This was her father. She looked over at him with curious eyes. "Daddy?"

Jareth stopped speaking when he heard her barely muffle out to him. He told the man to call an ambulance as he was walking towards his daughter. "Melissa. Melissa, I'm here. Can you hear me? Melissa?!" But she couldn't hear him; she had fallen unconscious once more.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Melissa could hear someone calling for her to wake up, but she couldn't. She tried to, she wanted to, but something was holding her back. She didn't stop trying though. And eventually, her eyes slowly opened, taking in her surroundings. She was no longer lying on the ground next to her mother, and it was no longer night. She was in a hospital room, a doctor hovering over her, asking her if she could hear him. She nodded and looked around the room she was occupying, trying to go over everything that had happened. It was raining. _Mom and I spun off the road and into a ditch. We both went unconscious. I woke up and a man – my father – carried me and mom out of the car and onto the grass. I went back to being unconscious. Now I'm here. In a hospital in the middle of God-knows-where, and I don't know where mom is. Which reminds me, _"Excuse me?" she said, her voice almost too hoarse to be heard. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Excuse me, but, where's my mom?"

The doctor looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "Your mother is in the next room. Unfortunately she's not fairing as well as you."

Melissa's eyes grew wide. "What? I need to see her! Is she okay? Where'd my father go? Isn't he still here? Is he in there with her?" She couldn't stop herself. All of the questions just came tumbling out.

The doctor held his hand up. "Shhh. Calm down. One thing at a time. Your mother is still unconscious. She has a lot of internal bleeding, but we're doing everything we can right now. As for your father, well, there was an oddly dressed man who rode with you on your way here in the ambulance, but after we wouldn't let him in to see you or your mother, well, he took off." Seeing the hurt expression on her face, he tried to soothe her once again. "I'm sure he'll be back soon. Since you're awake, he'll be able to visit you now. Oh! Speaking of visitors, I'll be right back." And with that, he left the room.

She sat there in silence, comprehending everything that he told her. A few minutes later, Rachel and Allan, Melissa's boyfriend, walked into her room, leading a few of her other friends as well. Rachel immediately ran over to her and threw her arms around her hospitalized friend. "Oh, I was so scared for you, Mel. The doctor called your grandparents and they called me and told me about the accident, and I couldn't just sit at home and not do anything, so I called Allan and he called Tiffany, and she called Kelly, and we were all so worried so we came here and they wouldn't let us see you and I was just so _scared!"_

Melissa listened to all of this while her friend hugged her, with her eyes wide. "Wow. I'm glad I didn't worry you." She said sarcastically while her other friends chucked at Rachel's display.

She pulled back and looked at her friend in horror. "Mel, didn't you hear a word I just said?! I was terrified! We didn't know if you'd live or die or just stay unconscious for the rest of your life!"

Now it was Mel's turn to chuckle. "I know Rach, I was kidding."

Allan stepped up to her and maneuvered his way around the now crying Rachel to where Melissa lay on the hospital bed. He handed her a get well soon card and some flowers as he kissed her on the forehead. "I'm glad to see your okay."

Rachel started ranting again about how she was NOT okay, that she had just been in a 'car accident for crying out loud,' and when she said this Kelly looked over at her and said. "Yes, you are, aren't you?" and once again they all laughed at the reference to the girls ranting while Rachel just blushed and mumbled that she was just worried.

Melissa smiled at her friend who was finally calming down. "It's okay Rach, I'm glad you were worried about me." Then she turned to face the others who were in the room as well. "And thanks you guys, for coming to see me, I mean."

They all smiled and nodded or shrugged. Then the doctor came back in again to tell them that they should start saying their goodbye's because Melissa needed her rest. The four of them came over to her and gave her hugs and said goodbye, but when it was Allan's turn, he just waited for the other three to leave, before bending down to kiss her on the lips. As they pulled apart, she noticed something that resembled a bruise on his neck, only that was no bruise. Her smile quickly vanished, realizing that that mark on his neck was not the result of spending time with her. "Where'd you get that?" she asked, nodding towards his neck.

He pulled back and quickly covered the hickey. "Oh...uh...well...It's, it's nothing." He sputtered out.

Melissa nodded, a tear now rolling down her cheek. "Well, whoever she is, give her my regards. You can just tell her that while you two were making out your girlfriend nearly died and you just had to come by to give her your best as she ended the relationship."

Allan looked like she'd just stuck him with a knife. Melissa was crying worse than Rachel had been. "Just go. I don't want to see you anymore," she managed to get out. He looked genuinely hurt and sorry.

"I'm sorry, Mel. I'm really sorry." Once that had been said, he walked out of the room to join Melissa's friends once more. She could see Rachel look into her room one last time before quickly turning back to Allan and demanding to know what he did to make her so upset.

She lay there sobbing, as someone else slowly opened the door. She didn't even look up, thinking it was Allan again, coming to try to apologize one more time. "Go away Allan!" she shouted.

"I'm not Allan," a man's voice said quietly from the doorway. It was the man who had pulled her mother and her from the car; it was her father. "My name's Jareth. I believe your mother told you about me."

Melissa looked up and nodded at him. "You're...you're..." she couldn't bring her self to ask him if he was her father or not. But apparently she didn't need to.

"Yes, Melissa, I am your father." He said, now walking towards her.

She sniffled once and looked to his eyes. They were just like hers. Upon seeing them, she smiled, thinking of the expression her mother had worn while telling her about those eyes. He smiled back at her as he approached the hospital bed. He then wiped a tear from her cheek and she noticed that his eyes were filled with concern. "How's my mom?" she asked him.

At just that moment, as if on cue, the doctor walked in, a look of deepest sympathy spread across his face. Melissa looked at him hopefully, her father giving the man an identical look. "I... I'm sorry, Melissa," he said. She didn't like the tone of his voice. "Your mother...we did everything we could, but there was too much internal bleeding. She's gone." He managed to get out, almost crying himself from the looks on their faces.

Melissa looked from the doctor to her father. A look of pure horror was spread across Jareth's face as a tear trickled down his cheek. Melissa started crying from where she lay as well. Her mother had died.


	3. Grieving

Well, thanks to those of you who reviewed: alorindanya, Moonjava, and JESSEK! You make me feel loved! Anyway, sorry about what happened to Sarah. Don't be mad at me, this is just the way it had to be. I thought about keeping her, but that would have jeopardized the entire story. Well, looks like I've done enough rambling for now, and with that, I give you the third chapter of Graduating from the Aboveground.

**Grieving**

Melissa's hands began to shake and her lips started to tremble. Tears were flowing steadily down her now pale face as she thought about what the doctor had said. "What?" she whispered so that even her father, standing not three feet from her, would have had a hard time hearing it. But apparently the doctor at the foot of her bed did not.

He shook his head. "I'm very sorry. She wasn't in any pain, if that's any consolation."

She stared at the doctor even harder. Yes it was a good thing that her mother hadn't been in any pain when she died, but that didn't change the fact that she _was_ dead. "Consolation? My mother just _died_, and you wondering if you can offer me any CONSOLATION!?" she hollered at the man. She was weeping by now. "It's not fair!" she sobbed. "It's just not _fair_!"

Jareth looked down at his sobbing daughter. She looked so much like her mother, and now he knew she sounded like her as well. He reached out and gently rubbed her forehead, stroking his thumb back and forth on it. "Shh. Calm down. It's going to be alright."

Melissa shook her head. "No. It won't be alright." She said between sobs. "She's gone. And she's not gonna come back!" With that said she flung her arms around her father's neck and sobbed into his shirt. "It just isn't fair!"

He was startled by this sudden outburst. He awkwardly hugged her and patted her back, letting her cry on his shoulder. "No. It isn't fair." He looked over to the doctor standing by the end of the hospital bed and nodded towards the door, and, deciding to let the girl's parent try to calm her down, the man left the room and silently closed the door behind him. After seeing him exit the room, Jareth pulled away from Melissa's grasp and looked to her face. Her eyes were red and her nose was running a bit. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her. She graciously took it and dried her wet face before setting it down on the blanket in front of her.

Melissa shook her head, trying to imagine what life might be like without her mother. Sarah had been the constant in her life, the one thing she could always count on to be there for her. And now she was gone. She looked back up at the man standing next to her bed. He looked just as distressed as she did. "So...you're really my father?" She said, only half asking.

Jareth just nodded in response to her question and said, "I should have thought that my eyes would have given me away."

Melissa unwittingly let out a soft giggle at this. He smiled through his grim expression. "Why haven't I met you before?" she asked him, looking up at his hurt face. "Why didn't you come to see me?"

He looked away from his daughter, thinking about what he was told shortly after her birth. "It's complicated," was all he said. Seeing that he didn't want to talk about it right now, she dropped the topic. "I saw you at your graduation yesterday," he said, looking back at her.

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, I know. Mom told me that was you leaning against the car."

Jareth looked up at the clock on the wall. It was just past four. "I'd better get going now."

Melissa's head shot up to look him in the eyes once he'd said this. "No. You can't leave. I only just met you and with what happened to mom and all, well, she told me before that she couldn't wait for us to meet and I want to know why she was so anxious, and since she died you're my parent and you can't just leave me here, and...and..." she was rambling, and very quickly at that, but who could blame her after what had happened to her mother.

Jareth only looked at her with gentle eyes. "I won't be gone long. I promise I'll come back soon," he said soothingly – so soothingly in fact, that he almost didn't believe it was he who was speaking. Seeing the disbelieving look on her face, he tried again. "I promise. In fact," he conjured a crystal behind his back and pretended to have dug it out of his pocket, thinking it would be best if he didn't tell her about the magic until she was over the shock of losing her mother. "Keep this until I get back, okay?" He handed her the crystal and watched her face hold the exact same expression that her mothers had held when he had first offered her a crystal. Melissa nodded and held the crystal carefully, thinking it would break if she so much as held it too tight.

"What is it?" she asked, quite stunned at the exquisite sphere.

He smiled at her, realizing just how much like her mother she really was. "It's a crystal." He then bent down and kissed his child on her forehead before leaving the room, an awe inspired Melissa watching him as he left.

Once he had gone, Melissa just stared at the crystal in her hands. It was incredible, like nothing she had ever seen before. It reminded her of something; she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Once Jareth had returned to his castle, his rage finally came bursting through him. He marched though his throne room, his angry power giving off a warning aura about him as he kicked aside goblins to reach his study. As soon as he was there, he slammed the door tightly – not to mention loudly – behind him. He conjured crystals just to throw them at the wall and let out his rage. He stormed around the large, book filled room and let out several cries of fury as he knocked entire bookshelves to the floor until he finally sat down at the window seat, to let out the tears he'd been holding back in front of Melissa.

Hoggle, who'd been watching him practically destroy the large room from the door, carefully came out from where he was standing to stand beside Jareth. "Yer Magesty? What's wrong?"

Jareth had been startled by Hoggle's question and looked up from the palm of his hand to see the goblin looking at him with worried eyes. "She's gone," was all Jareth said as he turned his head to look upon his precious city.

Hoggle, thinking he already knew the answer, tried to get his king to elaborate. "Who's gone?"

Jareth merely shook his head again before answering, which he did, after about a moment's silence. "Sarah. She's dead, Hoggle. She died in the hospital."

Hoggle was stunned to silence; not only had Jareth finally gotten his name right, but his first and best friend had died. He shook his head and let tears roll form in his dark eyes and roll down his tanned cheeks. He didn't know what to say. What could he say? Nothing that could consol his king, that was for sure. There was only one thing he could think to ask. "What ya gonna do now, yer Magesty?"

Jareth shook his head again, thinking about his daughter, her dead mother, her betraying boyfriend, and her friends and family members who would miss her. "She'll have to come back. I'll have to bring her to the Underground."

**Meanwhile, back at the Hospital...**

Melissa's friends, Rachel, Tiffany, and Kelly had come to see her once again. "I can't _believe_ he did that to you, Mel," Rachel told her once Melissa had explained about Allan. "From what I can gather," Rachel was the Queen of Gossip, she always had been, and most likely always would be. "He was at a graduation party with Lila Korkowski, someone brought a few kegs and, well, I think you can figure the rest out on your own."

Melissa nodded. She guessed that it had been something along those lines. She was still hurt by what he'd done; they had, after all, been going out for about two years now. But she knew that wasn't the only thing that had caused this pain. Her mother was dead, her father shows up only to leave again, her boyfriend cheats on her, and now she knew that she had a concussion. Her only consolation was that she'd be able to leave the hospital tomorrow to stay with her grandparents and that Jareth promised he'd come back

"Anyways," Kelly said, brushing a few of her flame red locks from her face. "You said you met your dad earlier. What was that like?"

Melissa shrugged. "It was okay, I guess. I was crying most of the time he was here so we didn't get much time to talk. I could have sworn I saw him at the accident though," she said to her querying friends. She didn't remember much about the accident, but she knew she had seen him, not even his car, just him. Noticing the silence that had befallen them, Melissa decided to show them the crystal he had let her borrow. She pulled it out from underneath the blanket where she'd been holding it gently and let them see it. "He gave me this to keep until he got back." Their eyes widened when they saw the clear, circular orb.

"What is it?" the three of them chimed.

Melissa giggled. They sounded like robots. "He said it was a crystal," she told them. Suddenly, the door opened to reveal the doctor, whose name she now knew to be Dr. Morris, came striding in. Unfortunately though, he had startled her so much that she dropped the crystal. Melissa and the other four of them just watched as it fell to the floor, each one of them expecting it to shatter. To their surprise however, it didn't. It just bounced back up on the bed and into the Melissa's palm where it had been held so preciously before.

Melissa and her friends were shocked to say the least. This crystal had seemed very fragile, and here it had just bounced back up off the floor and into her hands. Rachel, Tiffany, and Kelly were staring at it with awe, while the doctor looked confused beyond all reason. But he managed to regain himself well enough to walk over to Melissa and ask her if she was feeling alright. She told him she was feeling fine and he told her that her grandparents, her uncle, aunt, and cousins had called to check up on her and they were coming to visit her soon. She nodded in response, and as soon as he left, she returned her attention to the peculiar crystal in her hand.

Tiffany was the first to speak once Dr. Morris had left, saying, "How did it do that? I though for sure it would break."

The other two across from her nodded their agreement and Melissa just said, "I thought so too. I don't know, maybe..." she trailed off, looking for some kind of explanation. "Oh, I don't know. I'll ask him when he comes back." By "him" she meant Jareth.

A few hours later her friends left, her grandparents, Karen and Jonathan had come to see her and brought her some flowers and a "Get Well Soon" balloon. Her uncle Toby and his wife Alice had stopped by with their two year old twins, Tori and Tommy. But she didn't see her father the rest of the day.

The next morning she awoke to bright sunlight filling her room through the open window and her father sitting in the chair across from her bed, asleep. She didn't know how he'd gotten there. _I thought visiting hours ended at eight on Saturdays._ Shook her head of these thoughts and brought her attention to the crystal that was resting securely on the little table beside her bed. She picked it up and brought it close to her face, inspecting it for anything that could expose the reason behind its odd jump from the floor to her hands again. She was so wrapped up in thinking about the crystal that she didn't even notice Jareth waking up. He looked at her with amused eyes. She seemed to adore that crystal.

"Something interesting you Mel?" he asked. He saw her jump, obviously startled.

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. I wanted to ask you something about this crystal." She told him once she realized that he was fully awake and watching her intently.

He looked at her suspiciously for a moment before a look of comprehension dawned on his face. "Your wondering why it did not shatter when you dropped it, am I right?"

She stared at him, open-mouthed and nodded. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

He chuckled before stating, "Let's just say I've had my fair share of crystal related experiences," he said before changing the subject. "Melissa, there was something I have been meaning to talk to you about as well." His face was suddenly serious. "Melissa, your mother left a will. We will both have to go to meet with her lawyer, along with her parents and stepbrothers family. But after that, well, I would like you to come back with me. Come to my home. You don't have to stay there if you don't wish it, but I would like for you to give it a try."

She thought about this for a moment. She had been thinking about staying with her grandparents for a while, something she still hadn't gotten around to asking them and so she didn't know if it would be alright anyway. But even if it had, there was something in her gut that told her to go with him. It would be the perfect chance to get to know her father better, plus, he had offered, so she knew she couldn't be rejected. She thought this would be the best option. "Sure, I'll give it a try." After all, if she didn't like it, she could always stay with her grandparents.

A/N: Okay, I know it's kinda boring so far, but please stay with me here. The next chapter will be better, I promise. Plus, I update almost everyday, so you can check back soon to see if the more interesting chapter is up. I just needed this one in here to link everything together. Oh, and, I thought I'd let you know, I don't exactly know what the rating for this story will be. I've got most of it mapped out in my head, but if the characters take me someplace else, so be it. Anyways, hope you liked it. Read and Review.

TTFN – ta ta for now

Sapphire925


	4. A Mother's Will and Her Daughter's Wish

Okay, so to those of you who reviewed: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I know there aren't that many of you so far, but seeing as how I just started this a few days ago, I'm not expecting too many just yet. But there are a few of you, and it's because of you that I keep writing. But anyway, I guess it's about time for another disclaimer. Hope you like this chapter!

Oh, yeah, I just thought I'd warn you, this chapter may get just a little bit higher rating than the ones before it.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Labyrinth – sadly – or any of its original characters. I do however, own Melissa and her friends.

And now, without further ado, I give you:

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**A Mother's Will and Her Daughter's Wish**

By noon that day, Melissa had been released from the hospital. Her grandparents had come to pick her up and drive her to their house, where she could kill some time until five o' clock, when she was supposed to meet with her mother's attorney for the reading of her will. At some point along the drive to their house, Karen offered to let her granddaughter stay with them. "No thanks. Jareth told me I could stay with him for a while," she responded politely to the question.

Her stepmother looked shocked. "You mean that oddly dressed buffoon your mother married?!" she asked quite shocked.

"Well, I don't know about the buffoon part, but yeah, that's the one. I mean, he is my father after all, so why shouldn't I stay with him for a while," she told Karen nonchalantly. "Besides, mom obviously loved him, and she always was a good judge of character." She added that last part mainly in remembrance of how her mother had disapproved of Allan, telling her that he could not be trusted.

Her grandmother still wasn't convinced. "Well, sweetheart, I know he's your parent, but you only just met him. Just because his blood runs in your veins doesn't mean he should be considered your _father_," she told her skeptically.

"Look grandma," she began to tell her grandmother a bit forcefully. "He _is_ my dad. Mom loved him, and she trusted him, and I loved and trusted her _and_ her judgment."

Jonathan chose this moment to speak up. "Karen, I think she's old enough to know who she wants to stay with. If she doesn't like living with him, she can always come stay with us."

Karen just sighed and said, "Oh, alright. But if you do change your mind about living with him Melissa, you are always welcome to come stay with us."

Melissa nodded. "I will," she said. "Oh, aren't Toby and Alice coming to stay with you guys today?" She asked, trying to change the subject from her father, whom Karen obviously disliked.

Karen nodded. "Yes he is. Oh, that reminds me, they were wondering if you would mind – I mean if you don't want to that is just fine – but they were hoping you might consider – now, only if you feel up to it – possibly..."

Melissa interrupted her babbling. "Spit it out already. They were wondering if I could what?" she asked, a bit too rudely.

Jonathan sighed. "They were wondering if you would be willing to baby sit the twins tomorrow afternoon," he said calmly, giving his wife a disapproving look from the driver's seat.

Melissa's expression turned to one of complete shock. "_What_? I just got out of the hospital and they want me to baby sit two toddlers?!" she asked, her disbelief dripping off every word.

Karen nodded. "Well, yes," she said a bit guiltily. Then she added quickly, "But you don't have to if you don't want to. They can always hire someone else. You are under no pressure what so ev-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. You mean I'd be getting paid this time?" Melissa cut her off again.

Karen looked startled and a little frustrated at having been interrupted again. "Yes, you'd be getting paid. Toby and Alice would be gone for no more than three hours. He didn't say how much he'd be paying you, but it didn't sound as though they would leave you with anything less than, oh, I'd say around thirty dollars – but that's just my guess. He sounded a bit guilty about having to ask you after what happened."

Melissa stared at the back of her grandmother's chair in awe. That was more money that anyone had been willing to pay her for babysitting for just three hours. "I'll do it," she said after thinking about the ten bucks an hour she could charge them and not feel guilty.

The rest of the way to her grandparent's house was driven in almost complete silence, which Melissa was perfectly fine with. She was lost in her own thoughts. She thought about Rachel and her other friends; she thought about Allan. She thought a lot about Allan. _How could he do this?! Two years. We were together for _two years, _and he just goes off and starts making out with Lila Korkowski at a graduation party while my mother and me are lying in a ditch somewhere!_ She couldn't believe that he had cheated on her with Lila Korkowski, of ALL people. She had quite a reputation for being somewhat less respectable then Melissa and her acquaintances. _Of all people, he chose that slut! Geeze, I'll bet he wasn't the only one she got to in that night alone!_ She wanted to scream.

Apparently, her grandfather had noticed the scowl that her face now held, since while Melissa was thinking about that piece of lying scum – as she now referred to him – since he asked her. "Mel, is something bothering you? You look upset." There was concern etched in his voice.

His question had snapped her out of her thoughts. "Hmm? Oh. No, I'm fine. I was just thinking," she told him, trying to sound indifferent.

He wasn't ready to drop the subject just yet however. "What'cha thinking about?"

She shook her head. "Nothing important," she responded, almost defensively. And he took that as his sign to stay quiet on the matter. Melissa then returned to her thoughts, trying to push any thing even close to Allan-related to the back of her mind, which surprisingly enough, worked. She was able to concentrate on what courses she would take in college, what her dad's home would be like, what not living with her mom would be like. She basically just thought about what her future would hold for her.

They reached her grandparents house about half an hour later. Time seemed to fly when she was so engrossed in her thoughts. She hadn't even noticed that they were there until Arthur – her grandparent's dog – came bounding up to the car and started running around in circles, waiting for them to get out of the car. When she saw Arthur, she remembered her mother telling her about Merlin, Arthur's father, and how she had played with him and taken him to the park a few blocks away when she was younger. Sadly though, Merlin had died shortly after Sarah herself had graduated.

Seeing Arthur bounding around, Melissa immediately jumped out of the car and began petting him and scratching him behind the ear. He licked her hands after this gesture since he couldn't reach her face. "Good boy Arthur," she murmured in that almost baby-talk voice that she generally used when talking to animals. "Yes you are! Here, you wanna fetch?" she picked up a stick lying on the ground nearby and threw it for him to chase after. "Go get it boy!"

She then turned her attention to her grandpa, now retrieving her bag from the trunk. She offered to take it from him, and when she did he responded by saying, "Nonsense! You're a guest here. I can handle it. Have some faith in your old grandpa!" She just smiled and let him take the bag. It wasn't too heavy.

When she turned around, she saw Arthur sitting there with the stick in his mouth, his eyes begging her to throw it again. She smiled and took it from him to throw it once more before following Jonathan into the house. It was just as it always had been. It was nicely decorated and completely spotless. Karen had turned out to be a cleaning addict. Whenever she was stressed out she cleaned, and wouldn't let anyone else help her because they could never get anything done the way she wanted it. But that had turned out to be fine with everyone. No family clean up times for them.

Her grandfather turned to her and smiled as she took in the familiar scent that was all around her. It couldn't quite be described, it was just pleasantly familiar. She'd never really appreciated that smell until now. Jonathan broke the silence that had grown all around them since they had entered the house. "You can stay in your mother's old room," he told her. "I believe you remember where it is."

She nodded. "Yeah, I remember. I'm gonna go unpack now," she said as she took the bag from her reluctant grandfather and went up to her temporary room. It had been decided at the hospital that Jareth would pick her up sometime tomorrow afternoon. That way she could still spend some time with her other relatives before moving into her new home.

As she opened the door to her mother's old room, she was overwhelmed by a sense of remembrance. Her mother had brought her here and let her stay in this room so many times when she was little. They would always go to the park a few blocks away and pretend that they were solving the Labyrinth from her mother's stories or that they were on some other wild adventure. But eventually, the trips to her grandparent's house became fewer and fewer each year. The stories became less exciting as they slowly faded into the back of her mind. She remembered them now though. She remembered every character from every story her mother had ever told her. She remembered that Sarah and she had always used three of the same characters in every adventure they ever played out: Hoggle, the indignant goblin man who was always a great help in solving the Labyrinth, Sir Didymus, the valiant dog knight who always treated them as princesses, and Ludo, the giant creature with flaming red fur covering his massive form. She remembered even once having a dream about her mother really introducing her to them. She was very little, about five or six, and they had been standing in a huge room when they came in. Her mother introduced her as Princess Melissa, and she had played with them until her mother had told her it was time to go.

Melissa smiled in recollection of the dream that at one point she had even thought was reality. _I was no naïve._ She remembered fondly. She stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind her. Her mother told her once that when she was fifteen she had given her room a "much needed makeover" and she had taken down everything from her walls and repainted. Her mother had given all of her stuffed animals and her toys to Toby. According to her mother, the only thing that remained the same was her vanity and her bed. Everything else had been redecorated.

She sat her things down on her bed and pulled out some of the extra objects that she had brought along, mainly a bottle of deep blue nail polish and the book entitled "Labyrinth". And so she sat down at the vanity and began to paint her fingernails, humming the tune to a song that she did not know. As she finished the first hand, she brought it up and inspected her handiwork. "Perfect," she commented before returning to the other one. But as she was painting and humming, she thought she saw something in the mirror caught her eye. She raised her head to look into it, and saw the form of a goblin man sitting on her bed, watching her intently.

"Hello Melissa," he said to her in an almost raspy, yet friendly voice.

"Who are you?" she asked without thinking.

An emotion somewhere between offense and hurt crossed his face. "I'm Hoggle. You don't remember me?"

She silently shook her head. After a moment she found her voice as she turned around to face him. "Should I remember you? And what are you doing in my..." as she turned around, she saw no one on the bed before her, only the comforter and her bag resting on top of it. "That's weird. I could have sworn – No. It's just this room. I am just imagining that I saw someone. All those stories are getting to me," she told herself firmly, partially because she believed it, and partially because she didn't.

A few hours later, they were on their way to Mr. Callahan's office. Once they arrived, Sarah's lawyer greeted them with a friendly smile and led them to his office. There were enough chairs in the room to fit twice as many people as were present. There was only Melissa, Jareth, Karen, Jonathan, Toby, Alice, and the twins – who spent most of their time asleep on the chairs – making a grand total of eight while there were enough chairs for almost twenty people. Melissa sat between Toby and Jareth, with Alice and the twins on Toby's right, and Karen and Jonathan on Jareth's left.

"Well, should we begin?" Mr. Callahan asked. When they all nodded, he started. "Well, you all know why you're here, so, let's get this will read, since I have another appointment in about half an hour. Let's see, were did I sit that package?" he asked himself as he looked for the will.

Mr. Callahan looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He wasn't a bad looking guy, but he wasn't really good looking either. His hair was an almost yellowy blond color, and his face wasn't bad, but when Melissa looked at him, she could see the greed in him blatantly. He looked up to her when while he was looking through the papers scattered across his desk and winked at her, a gesture that made Melissa feel quite uncomfortable.

Jareth sighed after about a minute had gone by during the man's search. "Were you not prepared at all for us?" he asked impatiently.

Mr. Callahan looked up to Jareth and scowled. "I am a busy man. I have a very important job to do here which takes up most of my time, so excuse me if I don't have time to clean my desk out every day!" he replied indignantly. "But obviously _you _would not know about _important_ jobs now would you?"

Jareth's face lit up with fury. He stood and marched over to the man's desk and pounded a fist onto the table. "How would you know if I have an important job or not?" He hissed at the man who was now looking up at Jareth in terror. "You were my wife's attorney, not mine! Personally, I would _never_ have chosen a rat like you to handle my legal affairs, seeing as how you look to be having enough trouble handling your own well being, let alone someone else's. Now, I suggest you stop wasting all of our time and make this quick." Mr. Callahan simply nodded in response and continued searching across the many papers on his desk about twice as vigorously as before.

Jareth came to take his seat once again next to Melissa, who stared at him in awe. Mr. Callahan was usually very intimidating, and now he was completely and utterly _intimidated_. "Nice work," she complimented him. He just smiled a one-sided smile back at her in response.

"Ah ha!" Mr. Callahan stated triumphantly as he held up a large yellow envelope. "I found it. Now let's see what our dearly departed Sarah Williams left behind, shall we?"

He looked up to see if there was a reaction from anyone at this half statement/half question remark, but if he wanted one, he was disappointed. "Alright, 'I, Sarah Williams, hereby leave my possessions to the following. To my daughter, Melissa, I leave you my house and all of its contents. I also leave you half of everything in my bank accounts – which amounts too around fifty thousand dollars. To my husband, I leave you nothing but my undying love and affection and I can only pray that you will take care of our daughter now that I am no longer able to. To my parents, Jonathan and Karen, my step brother, Toby, and his entire family, I leave you the other half of my bank account to be divided evenly among you. I hope that my parting has not caused any of you too much distress, for I am in a better place now. I leave you all my love and my best wishes.'"

Everyone sat in silence for a moment. Melissa couldn't believe she hadn't left Jareth anything. He had been her _husband!_ Then a thought occurred to her. _Maybe she didn't leave him anything because he doesn't need anything._ At that very moment, Jareth stood up from his chair and turned to leave, Melissa getting up and following close behind him. "Wait up," she called out to him as he began to take much faster and longer strides as he exited the attorney's office. He turned around to watch her trying to keep pace with him as he stood in the hallway.

"Is there something you needed Melissa?" he asked her once she was standing in front of him.

She nodded. "Yeah. Are you mad that mom didn't leave you anything?" she asked bluntly. She could have kicked herself._ Great. Now he's going to think mom raised me to be rude!_

But to her surprise, he just chuckled at her question. "No, I'm not mad. I don't need anything from her. I'm quite well off on my own." _So he is loaded .I wonder what his house looks like._

"Oh, I was just wondering," she said as another thought occurred to her. "What time are you going to pick me up tomorrow?" she asked him.

A look of comprehension dawned across his face. "Ah, yes. Well, what time would you like me to pick you up? I heard you were babysitting."

She nodded once. "Yeah, only 'cause I'm getting paid thirty bucks to do it though, not that I need it after what mom left me. But I should be done around two," she told him.

"I'll see you at two thirty then. You'll have time to say your goodbye's and get your things together that way," he told her with a one shouldered shrug.

"Okay. See you later then."

Jereth nodded once before continuing down the hallway as Melissa turned around to see Mr. Callahan leading her family behind him. She didn't like the way Mr. Callahan was looking at her. In fact it was more like he was leering at her instead of looking at her. He licked his lips as he noticed her looking at him. The sight made her shudder. As they approached her along the hall, he came up to her and put his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him in some form of a hug – a very uncomfortable hug. She managed to shrug him off and give him a not-on-your-life look. He didn't give her any form of acknowledgement, but did manage to keep his arm wrapped about her waist. He then looked at the rest of her family, who were all waiting for him to move away from the girl, and said, "I am terribly sorry for your loss. I wish each of you the best of luck with getting over this awful experience." However, the way he said it sounded more like he just wanted everyone to leave. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to have a word with Melissa here alone. It won't take long." He threw them a cheesy smile before they walked down the hall past them, Jonathan and Toby glaring at the man until it hurt their heads to continue looking.

Once they all turned the corner, Mr. Callahan turned back to Melissa and put both of his hands on Melissa's shoulders. "Now, Melissa, I understand that you must be going through a very strenuous time right now, and I just wanted to let you know that, if you need any comfort, you know, a shoulder to cry on, I'm here for you, in any way that you need me." He winked after saying this and Melissa felt like she could throw up then and there.

"Ah, that's alright, but, I've already got people who are willing to comfort me," she said disgustedly, hoping he would get the hint. But he obviously didn't.

He shrugged and asked, "Well, how about a date then?"

She wanted to burst out laughing when he said this, until she realized he was serious. "Ah, no thanks Mr. Callahan."

He cupped the side of her face in her hand, something that nearly made her sick. "Oh, now you don't have to call me Mr. Callahan. For someone as pretty as you, it's just Peter."

_Ug! Is he serious?! Gross! He's like thirty or something!_ The thought alone disgusted her. "Well, _Peter_, I would appreciate it if you would first, get your hands off of me," as she said this she pulled both of his hands off of her shoulder and cheek. "And second, stop treating me like a piece of ass! Got it?"

He put on a fake pout. "So feisty Melissa. You don't have to play hard to get with me."

A second later Jareth was at her daughter's side, neither of the other two having any clue as to how he'd gotten there. "I believe my daughter said she wasn't interested. Or are you that hard of hearing?" he hissed at the man standing in front of him.

"I...uh...well..." he stuttered nervously. "I do believe she's old enough to make her own decisions pops." He tried to sound macho as he said this, and failed miserably.

Jareth narrowed his eye's at the man, resisting the ever growing desire to strangle him by simply reaching out and grabbing the collar of his clean, black suit and pulling him up so that they were almost eye level, and said to him, "You listen here you little weasel, and don't you forget this: Melissa here, has no interest in you now, and she never will. I'm surprised any woman would think that a scum bag like you to even deserved to be considered a man. So, I suggest that you go back into your little office, and prepare for the poor fools who hired you to make their little visit. Now, is there any part of that that I made unclear to you?" He dropped Mr. Callahan's collar and the man stumbled backwards at this.

After vigorously shaking his head – which made him look like the little coward he actually was – he fixed his collar and quickly paced back to his office. When he had slammed the door behind him, a shocked Melissa turned her gaze upon her father. "Thanks," was all she could manage to say to him after that little display.

He just shrugged. "You didn't seem to be enjoying his company. I thought I'd step in and give you a hand. Not to mention the fact that I'll be damned if my daughter goes out with a rat like that! Especially since you can do so much better than someone like him."

Melissa smiled up at him as they began to walk to the front doors out which the rest of their company were waiting for them. Sure enough, they found everyone there. Karen was waiting in the passenger seat of the car while Jonathan spoke with Toby and Alice was playing Peek-a-Boo with Tori while Tommy slept silently in the back seat of their car. When they stepped out of the car, Karen motioned for Melissa to come in. She just smiled and held up one finger to signal that she would be there in a minute. "So," she started to say to Jareth. "Where is it exactly that you live? Will I be able to visit my friends without going to far?" she asked simply.

He just shrugged once again. "Well, that depends on a few things. It's not far though. I'm sure you'll like it there. Sarah always did."

Melissa nodded and began to walk to the car in which Karen and now Jonathan were waiting for her. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

He nodded and waved goodbye to her as they drove off in the direction of the William's home. After seeing them turn a corner, and making sure no one else was around to see, he vanished and reappeared in the underground.

That night, as Melissa lay in bed, she thought of everything that had happened throughout the past few days, and soon tears began to flow steadily from her mismatched eyes. She had graduated, gotten into a car accident, met her father, found out her boyfriend was cheating on her, her mother died, the sleazy ass lawyer who had handled her mother's accounts tried to hit on her, her dad had scared him off, every time she passed that vanity mirror she could swear that she saw something that wasn't there, and now she was in bed, practically crying her eyes out. "It's not fair!" she sobbed after a while. "It's just not fair!" As a car drove past the house, its headlights shone through the window and caught the glare of some gleaming gold letters on a red covered book. She looked over at the book 'Labyrinth' and sighed as she thought of the story that lay between its pages. "You know," she said to know one in particular. "I wish the Goblin King _would_ come and take me away. Right now." She managed to sob once more before a huge gust of wind blew her window open and a white owl flew through to the other side of her room. Melissa sat up to find Jareth now rising from the place where the owl once stood.

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A/N: Okay, so this one's a bit longer, and it might not be as good as I had wanted it to be, but I just got so wrapped up in the story and had to have it end just right. I'll try to update soon, but until then, please review and if there are any stories about the Labyrinth that you're reading or have read, let me know about them, I could always use another good story. Well, until next time,

TTFN-Ta Ta For Now

Sappire925


	5. Welcome to the Underground

Okay, so it's taken me longer than usual to update, but I've been swamped with homework and babysitting. Thanks to those of you who keep reviewing. I know my last chapter wasn't the best but, I'm going to try to make this one better. Let me know if I succeed. Oh, and if you have any story or chapter title ideas, you can e-mail me. I have a pretty good idea as to where this story's going, but any extra ideas are welcome. Anyway, my muse is getting impatient, so, here's chapter five...

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**Welcome to the Underground!**

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Melissa asked, her voice slightly unstable. Her multicolored eyes were wide with terror as her heart beat increased rapidly. She was already sitting up in bed starring at the man who looked so much like her father that it scared her. He had Jareth's same face, his same eyes, and that same grin. But she'd never seen his hair piled and spiked up on his head like that. The rest of his hair rested on his back with a lock of hair resting on each shoulder as well. There were also blue highlights in his pale blond hair. The cloths he wore were different as well. Yes, she'd seen him in one of those white poet's shirts before, but not with a cape around it, nor those too-tight pants that completely clung to his legs. He also wore sleek, black riding boots that reached almost to her knees. No. This man couldn't be Jareth. Sure, he had long hair, but it was always tied into a ponytail. Yes, he would sometimes wear boots, but never ones that long. And a lot of times he did wear poet's shirts, but there was never before a midnight jacket that accompanied it beneath a swirling black cloak.

The intruder closed his eyes and shook his head. "Melissa, you know very well who I am," he told her quietly, and when she didn't respond, he chose to elaborate. "I am Jareth, your father, but I am also Jareth, the Goblin King. You wished me here." He told her simply.

Melissa looked down at her shaking hands. "No. This isn't right. I...I'm dreaming. I have to be," she said quietly. She reached over to her other arm and pinched herself. "Ouch. I have got to file these things." She said this mainly to herself, but Jareth overheard.

"No Melissa, you are not dreaming. You wished for me to come to take you away, and so I have come. Normally, you would not have any remaining time here once I reached you, but since you are my daughter, I will make an exception. Pack your things quickly; I can't be gone for too long."

She just stared up at him, eyes wide with confusion. "But...no...you're...I mean..." she stumbled over her words to find the right ones. "There's no such thing as the Goblin King, I mean...there's just not. It's just a story." Her voice held a confidence that masked her true feelings. "This can't be happening," she told herself firmly.

He spoke to her as he crossed her room to the now open window. "Oh, but it is happening, and I am quite real, I assure you. That story," he said to her as he pointed to a little red book lying on the desk next to her bed. "Is not all that untrue." He closed the window to block out the brisk wind and sighed. "You know, your mother was much quicker to believe than you are," he told her plainly. He turned around to face her. "Now hurry up. We haven't much time."

Melissa got out of bed and slowly walked to the other side of the room. "I'm not going anywhere with you," she told him bluntly. She didn't believe a word he was saying, and this was quite evident to Jareth, who merely shrugged. "Proof. I want proof that you are who you say you are." Her voice once again held a secure tone that masked her true feelings of sheer terror.

Jareth sighed before holding his hand up the same way he had when he had first presented Sarah with a crystal. He conjured a spherical, clear orb that rested at the tips of his fingers. "This is a crystal, just like the one you have. Now, if you look into it," he paused to toss her the crystal. She caught it with ease and stared into its depths. "You will see your mother and me at the beginning of the Labyrinth. In fact, she is standing in the exact place that you are now," he told her with a smirk.

She looked up from the orb and stared about her. She was standing at the peak of a dusty hill that looked over a monstrous maze. She had seen her mother standing right where she was. She looked over to Jareth, her mouth hanging open in shock. "Where are we?" she asked.

"We are in the Underground Melissa. Your mother came here to save her stepbrother once she wished him away," he paused to look over his vast kingdom. "You, however, wished yourself away. Now, I believe this is yours." He told her handing her a lime green duffle bag with sky blue straps. "I merely brought the items that you brought with to your grandparent's home. They should be enough until we can get some other clothing for you."

She stared out upon the surrounding area. To one side lay a Labyrinth, beautiful in all of its complexities. In the opposing direction lay a lush green valley that stretched almost as far as the eye could see. A few hills were scattered about the land, but ended at a large forest with trees that seemed magnanimous to her even at this distance. This forest surrounded a large city, in the center of which stood another castle, this one pale green with bits of blue around every window and door. To the other side was a desert with tall mountains in the distance, each one tipped with either ice or a volcanic opening. She wondered briefly how this could be, until Jareth brought her out of her gazing moments.

"Melissa, we really must be going now," he told her impatiently. "We do have other business to attend to."

She nodded once, finally believing him. He held out his hand for her, and when she took it, they were in a vast thrown room that reminded her of the home she and her mother had shared before Sarah's untimely death. Jareth noticed her staring around the room and smiled. "It seems familiar doesn't it?" she nodded and he continued. "Yes. I thought it would. Sarah had me turn my old thrown room into a goblins relaxing area. Said it was too dreary. But this one isn't bad; I'd never had a use for it anyway."

Melissa was hardly hearing him. All she could do was stare at the room around her. It was the size of her school gymnasium, maybe even larger. All around were portraits of Sarah, Melissa, and Jareth. Many of them looked to be of Sarah while she was solving the Labyrinth (she could only assume that her mother actually had, given the current circumstances). There were some of her with Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus, and others were of her and Jareth dancing in the ball room. But there were others of Sarah holding Melissa as a child, some of her playing with the little girl as she grew, and there was even one of Sarah, Jareth, and Melissa all together. They looked quite royal in the one family portrait directly above the thrown. In the portrait, Sarah wore a regal looking white gown with slight puffs at the shoulders. Melissa was wearing an aqua gown that looked to have vines twisting around it. Jareth wore something similar to what he wore now: a white poet shirt with clingy black pants and a dark blue jacket. Each one of them wore a crown – Jareth's was large with many jewels around the many points, Sarah's was more like a large tiara that was just as golden as Jareth, though with fewer gems. Upon the young Melissa's head rested a tiny silver tiara, with nothing but a sapphire just below the only point that was stationed in the centre of a ring of rubies.

Jareth noticed her staring at the one picture and his grin broadened. "Yes, that one is my favorite as well."

"When was it done?" she asked him, her eye's not leaving the picture.

He looked back up to his most prized portrait of this castle and replied, "When you were six. Sarah brought you here to have it done. I believe she also introduced you to some of her friends as well." Melissa nodded, realizing the event that she had once considered a dream to be absolute reality. He saw her nod from the corner of his eye. "Yes. As I remember, you were quite distressed to leave."

Jareth looked briefly back to the painting, then to Melissa and clapped his hands twice, a young girl no older than Melissa entered the room. "Yes, your Majesty?" she asked politely.

Jareth glanced over to where the serving girl stood in her green dress and white apron. "Kaylee, this is my daughter Melissa. Melissa, this is Kaylee." He gestured to each young woman as he introduced them. "Kaylee, kindly escort Melissa to her room," he said to Kaylee as she nodded once in comprehension. "Melissa, I will see you tomorrow morning at breakfast. Kaylee will assist you for the time being." Melissa just nodded, still in shock of what was happening. It really was a lot to deal with.

Just before Kaylee was able to lead Melissa from the room completely, they heard Jareth's voice and they stopped. "Oh, and Melissa? Goodnight."

Melissa smiled in remembrance of what her mother and she used to say before bed. "Goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bight." He looked confused once she had spoken this, but as comprehension slowly dawned, he smiled as the two girls left the room.

Once they had passed many rooms beyond the one they had just exited, Kaylee turned to Melissa and said, "Lady Melissa, we don't have any of these 'bed bugs' you speak of." She looked utterly confused and all Melissa could do was laugh.

"No Kaylee, I didn't mean real bed bugs. It's just an expression like sleep tight or pleasant dreams," Melissa told the serving girl.

Kaylee nodded and turned a corner. "Oh. Of course M'lady."

Melissa thought about what Kaylee had just called her. M'lady. It wasn't a name by which she wanted to be referred to for the rest of her life that was for sure. "Kaylee," she began, but before she could finish, the other girls head was already facing her, ready for a command.

"Yes M'lady?" she asked politely.

Melissa sighed. "Kaylee, you don't have to call me that. Just call me Mel. Okay?"

Kaylee nodded. "Yes M'la- I mean, Yes Mel," she quickly corrected herself.

Melissa just nodded, realizing that it was going to be tough making friends in a place were everyone treated you like a princess. But thinking about it now made her realize that that was exactly what she was: a princess. _Well, my dad is the Goblin King, so I guess that makes me the Goblin Princess. Oh yippee for me. I'm Princess of the Goblins._ It didn't seem to be a very fairy-tale-princess-like title. It sounded more like she was some troll.

Kaylee stopped at a door that was along a _very_ long hallway and opened the door. "Lady Mel, this is your room. I hope you find it to your liking." But as she turned to look at the reaction upon her princess' face, she saw that something was troubling her. "What is troubling you?" She asked with genuine concern in her voice.

Melissa didn't want to ask the question, but she felt she had a right to know, not to mention the fact that it would be bugging her for the rest of the night if she didn't find out now. "Kaylee am I the Goblin Princess?" she asked quickly.

To Melissa's surprise, Kaylee merely laughed. "No Mel, your title is the Princess of the Labyrinth. There is only a Goblin _King_. His Majesty is also the King of the Labyrinth. The Goblin royalty is only for the King because...well...I guess I don't know. It's just always seemed natural to me. But trust me; you are not a Goblin Princess. You are the Princess of the Labyrinth. Now, if there is nothing else you need, then I shall see you in the morning," she told the other girl quickly before stepping out of the room.

Once Kaylee had left the room to Melissa, she turned to examine her new bed room. Her jaw dropped as she looked upon the massive room. It was about half the size of the thrown room, and it looked to have been based completely on her. Each wall had been painted a red wine-color, and although it seemed like it would make the room dark, it didn't. All it did was accentuate the wooden bookcase that took up a large portion of wall on both sides of the door from which she had just entered. From the ceiling hung an elegant chandelier with lights which emitted a sort of magical glow from them that seemed to open up the room even more than it already was. Her bed was placed against the middle of the wall to the right of the wall which held the door that lead to the rest of the castle. Just across from that door was another set of doors, these ones were made of glass and lead to a balcony. That same wall held many windows, letting in the moonlight and the vibrant glow of the many stars that scattered across the night sky. Only a few yards away from her bed, on the same wall, there was a door, which was open to reveal a large bathroom with a tub that looked more like a pool. Across from this wall, another was adorned with pictures and portraits of Melissa, her family, and her friends. There were some that went back as far as to her early childhood at Christmas time, and some that were very recent. There was even a portrait of her giving her speech at her graduation. She wondered how they had managed to paint that in so little time, but she expected that magic was involved somehow.

Melissa managed to snap out of her marveled state and walk over to a vanity similar to her mother's old one, but this one was centered around her. It was made of a soft tan-colored wood with a large circular mirror that was taller than she was just above the desk at its base. The top of the desk was a smooth, dark blue marble, but every other aspect of it – save the handles on the drawers – was made of wood. The drawer handles were the same blue marble with small diamonds encrusted along the edges.

Melissa reached out with a hesitant hand to open one of the drawers. The whole desk just looked too precious to touch. When she opened the top left drawer, she saw that in it was a tiara that looked to be a cross from the one her mother had worn and the one she had worn in the portrait above Jareth's thrown. It was silver and had a large, heart-shaped ruby in the centre. Surrounding it were emeralds. Diamonds stationed themselves around the emeralds with petite sapphires accenting the edge of the tiara. It rested on a beautiful, blue velvet pillow. Melissa slowly closed the desk's drawer and yawned heavily. It was still only about one in the morning. She walked over to her bed, which was about the size of her Sarah's entire room in her grandparent's house. She pulled the blankets of different shades of blue down from the pure white pillows and pulled the blankets close around her slender form. Snuggling up to the heavenly pillows, she tried to envision her new life here. But as she thought about the lifestyle a princess would lead in this magical world, she was unaware of the extra presence that stood on the balcony, watching her every move. As the young princess slowly drifted off to sleep, the tall presence smiled and said quietly, "Welcome to the Underground princess."

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A/N: Okay, so, hope you like it! I had fun writing it, but I have a homecomming game to go to, so...

TTFN-Ta Ta For Now

Sapphire925


	6. A New Beginning for a Princess

Hello again! Okay, so those of you who read the authors note at the end of my last chapter remember I said I went to our homecoming game? Well, I did, and our team lost. Pitifully. I mean it was downright sad! But enough of my bashing of our team. Thanks to those of you who reviewed! And now, after yet another disclaimer, I give you the sixth chapter of Graduating from the Aboveground!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own the Labyrinth or any of its original characters. But everyone else is mine, MINE, **MINE**!!!

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**A New Beginning for a Princess**

Melissa awoke the next morning to a warm, morning sun greeting her through the glass doors which lead to her balcony. She rubbed her eyes and peered around at her surroundings, forgetting for a moment of the events which occurred the night before. She began to sit up in the gigantic bed and as she did so, heard a knock at the door. "Come in," she called instinctively. Upon her saying so, Kaylee entered the room holding a bundle of colored clothe in one hand and a pair of silver slippers in the other.

Kaylee rushed over to Melissa and nodded her head briefly in respect before heading towards a closet that was along the same wall as her vanity. Surprisingly there were also two identical mirrors with intricate gold framework that stood on either side of the newfound closet. Hanging the clothe – which Melissa now knew to be dresses – neatly in the closet, Kaylee looked back at the sleepy eyed girl and asked, "Did you sleep alright Lady Mel?"

Melissa sighed. It was going to be a job in itself trying to get people to act casually around her. But then again, she was a princess now, so maybe they weren't supposed to act normal around her. "Yes, I did. And yourself?" She asked, thinking that making a little conversation would be harmless.

The serving girl had turned back to her work at putting the gowns away, apparently arranging them by elegance. The extremely elegant ones were off to one side, organized by color; the same could be said for the less intricate ones. Kaylee gave Melissa a strange look after the question. "Yes, m'lady," she said cautiously before turning to place the slippers at the base of the closet.

Melissa stretched her arms and yawned deeply, noticing the hesitance Kaylee held when speaking with her. She didn't want to be feared in this place. She wanted friends. She'd had plenty of them back home, but she was going to have to start again here. She wouldn't be just Melissa Williams here. No. Now she was Lady Melissa, Princess of the Labyrinth. But that didn't mean that she couldn't have friends like she did back home – well, her old home at least. This was her home now. And she wouldn't be able to stay here without friends. "Kaylee, can I ask you something?" Melissa asked quietly, but not so quiet that the other girl couldn't hear.

Kaylee answered without looking behind her at Melissa, who still sat up in her bed. "Yes, of course m'lady," she replied simply, thinking the young princess would only be asking about the dresses or for something to eat.

Melissa toyed with the notion of asking something pathetic instead of her original question, but this one was important to her. "Do you think we could, um...be friends?" Her voice was just as hesitant as Kaylee's had been only moments earlier.

Kaylee had finished putting the clothes away and was just closing the doors to the wide closet as Melissa asked her question, catching her completely off guard. "I beg your pardon, m'lady," she said politely, walking a bit closer to the girl still sitting in bed.

The princess fingered the sheets that lay across her lap as she repeated herself. "Um...I asked if we could be...friends." She was afraid that Kaylee hadn't heard her. For some reason she was embarrassed by the question. She usually didn't go around just asking people to be friends, but she didn't know how to go about earning a person's friendship here – or at least a servant's friendship.

Kaylee smiled a warm, kind smile and said in response, "You said you want to be friends miss?" Melissa just nodded and the serving girl's smile grew. "Oh! Yes we can be friends!" She rushed up and sat down on the large bed beside Melissa. She sighed before speaking again. "I knew you'd be like her," she said joyously.

"Like who?" Melissa asked, curious as to who she reminded her newfound friend of.

Kaylee looked at the girl with genuine bewilderment plastered to her face. It was then that Melissa noticed that this girl was actually very pretty. She had deep black hair that was pinned up in a neat bun. Her eyes were a deep gray – blue color, and her cheeks were naturally tinted slightly pink. She had high cheekbones that suited her face well. She was about as tall as Melissa. The serving girl was also more petite than the princess, who was by no means fat, she just wasn't twiggy. Melissa thought about how much nicer she could look if only she would wear something a bit nicer and she would get her hair and makeup done, when she realized that Kaylee was speaking. "Why, your mother, Queen Sarah, of course," she stated as if it were blatantly obvious.

Melissa was a bit baffled herself now. "My mother? What do you mean?" Her question was simple enough, but Kaylee still held the same look of puzzlement.

Kaylee shook her head before speaking again. "I mean, you're just like your mother. She was kind, like you. She was a friend to all of the servants. My mother is still terribly upset about her death. She had always thought of Queen Sarah as her best friend," she told her sadly. Kaylee looked back up to Melissa's face. "I can't imagine how _you_ must be handling all of this."

Melissa looked down at her hands in her lap. This conversation was turning very gloomy very quickly. She took a deep breath and tried to change the topic as she climbed out of bed. "Well, enough of this depressing talk. What about you?" She asked as she walked over the vanity where a brush was waiting for her.

Kaylee looked perplexed by this question, as she too scrambled off the bed. "What about me?" She asked as she began to make the bed to look just as pleasant as it had the night before.

Melissa sat down on the stool awaiting her at the vanity and began brushing her relatively long hair. "I mean, tell me about yourself," she said simply as she started to untangle a particularly nasty snarl from her tresses.

To her surprise, Kaylee just laughed. "Oh, m'lady. You don't have time to hear me talk about myself right now. Breakfast will be served soon and His Majesty wished for you to join him this morning. You should be getting ready," she told her once she was satisfied with the way the bed looked.

Melissa just sighed and put down the brush. She had to put an end to this 'm'lady' business now. "Okay, Kaylee. You don't have to call me lady. Call me Mel. Just Mel. If were going to be friends I can't have your referring to me as Lady Mel or m'lady all the time," she told her playfully, but at the same time she was serious. She stood up from her stool and started walking in the direction of the bathroom. As she passed Kaylee she pointed a finger at her in mock severity and said, "Now don't you go thinking that I'm just going to drop the topic of you, 'cause I won't."

Kaylee giggled at how ridiculous she looked in her green pajama shirt and shorts with a fake serious look. The serving girl went back to the closet to gather a few gowns for Mel to chose from when she was finished with her shower, which she knew had already been started from the sound of the faucet and a bit of singing on the princess' part. She found three gowns that would suit the day well. She could already see much of Queen Sarah in her daughter, and if she was as much like her mother as Kaylee suspected, then today would be a day filled with exploring the castle and possibly even the Goblin City.

Melissa came out of the shower with a red bathrobe wrapped around her to find Kaylee waiting for her on a chair that had been placed next to her bed. She smiled at Melissa as she stepped out of the bathroom and came near the bed. "I hope you don't mind, but I've taken the liberty to pick out a few gowns that you might like to wear today," Kaylee told her as the princess looked upon the gowns with wide eyes.

All Melissa could do was to say, "That's fine," as she looked upon the beautiful dresses in awe. They were exquisite. Each one appeared to be just the right size for her slender waist and modest curves. One of them was a purple, v-neck gown with lace trimmings along every edge. The sleeves were three quarter lengths and the dress itself would have fallen to her ankles. Another one held different shades of lovely greens and had outlines of leaves stitched into it, making it look very much like a forest. The last one was the one that Melissa chose to wear. It was a peach color mixed with shades of pale pink to make the dress look very feminine. The sleeves were long and wide at her wrist, giving them plenty of room within the sleeves. The dress was a v-neck that hid her chest quite well and fell to her ankles. Her outfit was complete with a pair of peach shoes that had a small heel, giving her just another inch or two of height.

She stepped in front of the mirror when she was finished. The girl staring back at her was beautiful. The princess stood at about five feet eight inches – with the added inch from the shoes heel. Her face had a bit of mascara and lip gloss on and was framed nicely with her sun-tinted brunette hair which fell scarcely beyond shoulder length. She noticed now that she did have her mother's face, all except for her eyes, which were identical to her fathers. Melissa smiled at her reflection and turned to Kaylee, who grinned at her as well. "Well," Melissa started. "I guess it's time for breakfast then." Kaylee nodded her agreement and began to lead her to the dining room, where the king awaited them.

As they walked down the many halls to the dining room, Melissa gazed at the many painting along the walls. Many were of Jareth and her mother. Some were of her and Sarah. There were even a few of Jareth and Melissa. She saw many of her mother while she had been running the Labyrinth. One of the paintings that Melissa particularly liked was one that depicted Sarah introducing a young Melissa to Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus. The princess also noticed that there were very few windows along the hall. The only lighting was from candles that lined the walls or even a few lights that held the same magical glow as the chandelier in Melissa's room. Those lights, Melissa noticed, were very common in the hall ways that were decorated with portraits and paintings.

It wasn't long before they had reached the dining hall. Kaylee told Melissa to wait outside a moment for her introduction. The princess wondered why she would need an introduction to sit down at breakfast with her father, but maybe that was just the way things worked. Not twenty seconds after Kaylee had passed through the doors to give the princess' introduction had she returned to give Melissa permission to go on in, which she promptly did after a brief thank you to her friend.

Upon entering the dining room Melissa's jaw just about dropped – something that seemed to be happening an awful lot in this place – and her eye's widened. The room was huge and it held a wooden rectangular table that looked as though it could seat at least fifty guests with room to spare. The room itself was adorned with unnumbered windows and several paintings of the Labyrinth and three portraits of the noble's. One was of Jareth and it resided on the wall directly behind him at the far end of the table. Another one was of Sarah, and this one rested directly across from the king's. The third portrait was of Melissa as she was now: eighteen years old, in a peach gown, her hair in slight waves, and smiling politely. The only difference was that each of these royals had on a crown or tiara, and Princess Melissa was no exception. "You really do seem to have a fascination with these pictures, am I right?"

Melissa was snapped back to reality upon hearing her father speak. She looked over to where he was sitting and nodded once. He gestured to a seat directly below the portrait of her, which was precisely centered on one of the longer sides of the table. Jareth turned and peered curiously towards her. "So, Melissa, any questions?" he asked simply.

Melissa took her gaze from the room once more to look at him and give her response. "Yes, actually," she said. "Let's start with you and mom. I already know about the Labyrinth. But what happened afterwards?" _Finally, a chance to get some answers around here._

Jareth nodded and looked pleased. "Well, you just get right to the point don't you? Well, I guess you're even more like your mother than I first thought." After saying this, he noticed her grin widen immensely, which made his smile grow as well. "After solving the Labyrinth, Sarah and Toby returned to their home aboveground. That first night back was the first time I ever allowed her mirror's magic to ever be used. I believe you know the one. It sits atop some form of a dresser I believe?"

Comprehension dawned on Melissa's face upon hearing this. "So I really did see Hoggle in the mirror?! I'm not crazy!" Melissa shouted this last statement with evident enthusiasm. The intensity of her scream was followed by a shocked look on Jareth's part and a few clangs from the pots and pans in the kitchen not too far away apparently. It seemed that the princess' scream had sent quite a few of the cooks jumping.

"No, Melissa. You are not now, nor have you ever been crazy," Jareth began. "But I must say, the level's that your voice can reach are quite astonishing," he said bringing a hand to his ear in mock distress. Melissa's cheeks were colored pink after this statement. "But, we should return to the topic at hand. Your mother's mirror was mirror held some magic, just enough to allow her to communicate from one world to the other. I had placed that magic within there after seeing her in the park for the first time. She had been reading _that_ book and I noticed right away how absorbed in it she was. After seeing her there the first time, I came back everyday to see if she would return."

Melissa decided – much to Jareth's chagrin – to interject. "Don't tell me the almighty Goblin King was a stalker!"

Jareth eyes narrowed a bit before continuing. "No, Melissa. I was not stalking. I was merely waiting for her. She had an obvious love for the Labyrinth. _That_ she made no secret of. She came back soon, and I was there waiting for her. After a while, I followed her home and saw how she loved that mirror. That is precisely what enticed me to place a small amount of magic in it."

He paused a moment to give Melissa a chance to respond. She did not disappoint. "Okay. So, you follow her home, put magic in her mirror – very snow white, by the way – and she wishes for you to take Toby away, she wins him back, the magic in the mirror comes out, then what?"

He smiled mysteriously upon hearing this. "So curious Melissa. But, yes, you have everything correct. Now, that night, her friends, Ludo, Sir Didymus, and Hogbrain-"

"Hoggle," Melissa said instinctively.

Jareth's smirk grew. She really was exactly like her mother. "They all saw her that night. But once they left, she had felt alone. The next morning when she woke up, she was anxious to get back to school to see her aboveground friends. But what she found was vanity, carelessness, and pettiness. She had risen above what they thought, said, and did. The next few weeks went by with the same loneliness and depression. She went to her school during the day, went to the park to complete that homework that was given out, and at night, she would speak with her friends in the mirror. Almost exactly two months after she beat the Labyrinth, I appeared in her mirror instead of Higgle and the others." He waited expectantly once this was said.

"It's Hoggle," Melissa said tiredly. She could tell he was just trying to annoy her, but she still had to correct him.

Suddenly, Jareth threw back his head and laughed, which quite surprised Melissa. She hadn't been expecting this sort of reaction from him at all. When he was done, about a minute later, he said, "You really are just like your mother. Never could call _Hoggle_ by the wrong name and get away with it. But, anyway, I came to see her instead of those three. I offered her a chance to come back to the Labyrinth if she wished to, which she did. I told her that I would allow her to finish her high school education before coming to live here permanently if that was her wish. Until that time, she would be free to come and go between the worlds as she pleased. I told her that if she wanted that, all she needed to do was wish for it, and she did. The next three years passed with her coming to the Labyrinth every weekend and her friends and I coming to see her every other night. Soon, Sarah's distrust of me disappeared. Over time, she grew fonder of me, as I did for her. Eventually, that fondness grew to care, and care grew to love. Within the first year of your mother's life here, we married. The next year was when she informed me that she was with child. Not long after her twentieth birthday, you were born."

Something seemed wrong with this to Melissa. "Well, if you two both lived here, why couldn't I just grow up here? Why did mom go back?" she asked, genuinely confused. She was sure that growing up in this magical land would have been much more fun than growing up aboveground.

Jareth had been expecting this question. "The day you were born, your mother and I were informed that because you were half mortal, you would have to wait to live underground you had reached the same point in your life that Sarah had. She brought you here to visit when you were young enough to still believe in this place. As soon as your belief faded, however, your visits here had to stop. Your mother wanted you to have as normal a life as possible, so naturally, she couldn't have you telling your friends that your mother had taken you to a place with magical creatures and castles, and so she made sure that you believed that all of those little trips here were merely dreams. She would still speak with her friends whenever she had the chance, but she stopped after you walked in on her having a conversation with Hedgwart."

Melissa glared at him. "His name is _Hoggle_!" she declared loudly.

Waving her interruption aside, he continued. "Yes, yes. Hoggle then. After that, she told him that she wouldn't be able to speak with him until you had graduated. Occasionally, I would visit, but that had to stop as well, as my magic was beginning to rub off on you. After your graduation, you were supposed to go to your grandparents' house and she would have used the mirror to introduce you to her friends. Then, you would have been brought here, to begin your life as an underground princess."

Melissa cut him off once more. "Okay, so, you're saying that I couldn't come her until I had graduated, because that is when mom came to live here?" Seeing his nod, she continued. "Alright. Now, what about your magic rubbing off on me? Why didn't it rub off on mom?"

Jareth sighed and looked out one of the windows closest to him. Melissa followed his gaze to see an incredibly blue sky stretching across miles of Labyrinth and, closer to the castle, the Goblin City. Jareth's words brought her out of her viewing. "You have magic in your blood. Sarah did not. Because the magic was already within you, the surrounding magic was also drawn to you. Usually it takes much, and believe me when I say _much_ longer for magic to be rubbed off on someone. Within a few hundred years of marriage a couple's may be able to access the other's magic if they have a strong enough bond. My magic rubbed off on you so early because one, I am your father, and two, the Labyrinth's magic respects Sarah, therefore it eventually allowed her access to it, but since you are her daughter – not to mention mine – it was also drawn to you. These two factors made you more susceptible to my magic. Do you understand?"

Melissa simply nodded, trying to digest all of this new information. Jareth looked as though he was going to say something else, but two goblins were now walking from the kitchen door towards them, each carrying a tray with a silver cover. They walked towards the royals placed the trays in front of them before lifting off the covers, bowing deeply, and exiting the room. Melissa looked down at her plate. Before her was a steaming, ham and cheese omelet and a few slices of bacon: her favorite. Two more goblins promptly entered and each placed a glass in front of the two. Melissa's held orange juice. She looked over to Jareth and saw that his meal was the exact same as hers, with one exception: he had sausage instead of bacon. "I thought you might like a breakfast like this before sampling underground delicacies," he told her plainly.

She nodded and picked up a fork. "Thanks," she told him while cutting off a slice of omelet. After tasting it, she realized how much better it was than anything she had ever tasted. It was steamy, but not hot, the ham wasn't burnt, and the cheese was melted to perfection. There was some sort of extra spice, an herb, maybe, but whatever it was, it completed the taste.

Jareth however, had not taken a bite of his breakfast. He merely stared at his daughter in awe. "Your welcome, but you needn't thank me for feeding you. Did you think I wouldn't allow my own daughter food?" He was quite stunned at the fact that she had thanked him for presenting her with food. After all, she couldn't have thought he would have done otherwise.

Melissa swallowed and looked over at Jareth. "No, it's not that, it's just, I don't know. This place is so formal looking. Whenever mom and I went to a place like this I just automatically thanked the person who was buying and the people who were serving. It's just a habit, I guess."

Jareth nodded, but said nothing else on the matter and began to eat himself. The room was silenced as the two ate and drank. This caught Melissa's attention, and after swallowing the bit of bacon she had in her mouth, she began to laugh. Jareth looked up in confusion and asked, "What's so funny?"

She managed to still the laughter within a few more giggles. "Mom always said you could tell when people were hungry because as soon as they sit down to eat, it gets very quiet," she told him with a fond memory of her mother and her sitting at the small dining room table laughing over this when they had become too full to eat another bite.

Jareth chuckled a bit before taking a sip of his orange juice. "You are quite like her you know," he said, mentally comparing her to her mother.

Melissa, too, took a drink of her juice. "So I've been told."

The king's face became more serious after a moment of thought. "Melissa," he started off. From his tone, Melissa could tell he wasn't fond of the subject he was bringing up. "I hope you don't mind, but tonight there is a rather pressing appointment that you must accompany me to."

Melissa looked skeptical. "What kind of pressing appointment?" she asked suspiciously. There was no way she was going to any kind of Goblin meeting. No way. No how. Sitting in a room filled with goblins was not her idea of a good time.

Jareth sighed before continuing just as sullenly as before. "The Elvin Prince, Nathanial, is celebrating his twentieth birthday tonight. We, as the Rulers of the Labyrinth, are expected to attend. Seeing as how you have just arrived, however, you may be excused from going," he told her giving her one of those jealous, oh-how-I-wish-I-were-in-your-shoes looks. She could tell he and the elf prince were not exactly buddy-buddy.

Melissa visibly relaxed upon hearing this. "Oh. So, is it like a party or something?" She was now actually curious about it.

Her father shrugged. "I guess you could call it that. We refer to it as a ball. A masked ball, to be precise. His mother decided to be old-fashioned while planning it"

She thought it was odd that his mother would be panning his party, but then again, she found a lot of things odd in this place. "Sure. I'll go. Sounds like fun." She managed to make her voice much calmer than she actually was. Then, she put a hand up to her chest in mock alarm and said in a very girly voice, "But whatever shall I wear?!" A goblin who had apparently been watching them from the kitchen doors laughed, but scurried behind the doors after earning a fierce look from Jareth.

He turned his attention back to his daughter. "Oh, believe me. It's not as fun as it sounds. The Elvin Queen is not exactly pleased with us," he told her, ignoring the fact that she had just made a performing joke.

This puzzled Melissa to no end. "Why is she mad at us?" She asked with genuine bewilderment.

Jareth looked out the window once more before looking back to her. "Well, it's not really_ us_. It's more me who she's mad at. She seemed to have it in her head that we should have married to join our kingdoms instead of me marrying Sarah and her marrying Trident as she did. I can't imagine she'd welcome you with open arms, you being Sarah's and my daughter and all, but there's always a chance I guess."

Melissa nodded. "Oh. Well, I'd still like to go. I've never actually been to a masked ball before." Excitement had begun to well up inside her. She had always loved hearing about these fairy tale balls with beautiful gowns and glass slippers and handsome princes. Besides, she thought she should at least try to be friendly to some of the other nobles.

Jareth just shrugged once more and said, "Very well. It's at eight. You should be ready by seven – or possibly, since you're Sarah's daughter, you should try be ready by six," he told her with a smirk.

His daughter simply glared at him. "Oh, ha ha. You're a riot, Jareth." Then it hit her. "What do I call you now?"

He looked at her questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do I call you Jareth, or dad, or your Gobliness or...I don't know. What should I call you?" she pressed.

Jareth thought a moment. He hadn't thought of that. "Jareth. You can call me Jareth. Or dad, when you're ready to." He didn't want her to call him 'dad' if she wasn't comfortable with it.

Melissa nodded. "Alright. Jareth."

The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence. Jareth got up to attend to some of his duties not long after the conversation had ended, leaving Melissa to finish her meal in silence before deciding to wander about the castle. "Well, why not? It is my home too after all. I should at least know my way around," she told herself firmly. But little did she know, another presence keeping a close eye on the princess had other plans for her.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know. I need to make them more interesting. I SWEAR, the next one will be a thousand times better than this one. But I needed to have an explanation kind of chapter. But what I lack in adventure, I make up for in length – which may or may not be a good thing in this case – so don't be too upset. Please review and keep reading!

TTFN – Ta Ta For Now! (Yeah, I know. I don't own that saying either)

Sapphire925


	7. The Ball

**A New Beginning for a Princess**

Melissa awoke the next morning to a warm, morning sun greeting her through the glass doors which lead to her balcony. She rubbed her eyes and peered around at her surroundings, forgetting for a moment of the events which occurred the night before. She began to sit up in the gigantic bed and as she did so, heard a knock at the door. "Come in," she called instinctively. Upon her saying so, Kaylee entered the room holding a bundle of colored clothe in one hand and a pair of silver slippers in the other.

Kaylee rushed over to Melissa and nodded her head briefly in respect before heading towards a closet that was along the same wall as her vanity. Surprisingly there were also two identical mirrors with intricate gold framework that stood on either side of the newfound closet. Hanging the clothe – which Melissa now knew to be dresses – neatly in the closet, Kaylee looked back at the sleepy eyed girl and asked, "Did you sleep alright Lady Mel?"

Melissa sighed. It was going to be a job in itself trying to get people to act casually around her. But then again, she was a princess now, so maybe they weren't supposed to act normal around her. "Yes, I did. And yourself?" She asked, thinking that making a little conversation would be harmless.

The serving girl had turned back to her work at putting the gowns away, apparently arranging them by elegance. The extremely elegant ones were off to one side, organized by color; the same could be said for the less intricate ones. Kaylee gave Melissa a strange look after the question. "Yes, m'lady," she said cautiously before turning to place the slippers at the base of the closet.

Melissa stretched her arms and yawned deeply, noticing the hesitance Kaylee held when speaking with her. She didn't want to be feared in this place. She wanted friends. She'd had plenty of them back home, but she was going to have to start again here. She wouldn't be just Melissa Williams here. No. Now she was Lady Melissa, Princess of the Labyrinth. But that didn't mean that she couldn't have friends like she did back home – well, her old home at least. This was her home now. And she wouldn't be able to stay here without friends. "Kaylee, can I ask you something?" Melissa asked quietly, but not so quiet that the other girl couldn't hear.

Kaylee answered without looking behind her at Melissa, who still sat up in her bed. "Yes, of course m'lady," she replied simply, thinking the young princess would only be asking about the dresses or for something to eat.

Melissa toyed with the notion of asking something pathetic instead of her original question, but this one was important to her. "Do you think we could…um...be friends?" Her voice was just as hesitant as Kaylee's had been only moments earlier.

Kaylee had finished putting the clothes away and was just closing the doors to the wide closet as Melissa asked her question, catching her completely off guard. "I beg your pardon, m'lady," she said politely, walking a bit closer to the girl still sitting in bed.

The princess fingered the sheets that lay across her lap as she repeated herself. "Um...I asked if we could be...friends." She was afraid that Kaylee hadn't heard her. For some reason she was embarrassed by the question. She usually didn't go around just asking people to be friends, but she didn't know how to go about earning a person's friendship here – or at least a servant's friendship.

Kaylee smiled a warm, kind smile and said in response, "You said you want to be friends miss?" Melissa just nodded and the serving girl's smile grew. "Oh! Yes we can be friends!" She rushed up and sat down on the large bed beside Melissa. She sighed before speaking again. "I knew you'd be like her," she said joyously.

"Like who?" Melissa asked, curious as to who she reminded her newfound friend of.

Kaylee looked at the girl with genuine bewilderment plastered to her face. It was then that Melissa noticed that this girl was actually very pretty. She had deep black hair that was pinned up in a neat bun. Her eyes were a deep gray – blue color, and her cheeks were naturally tinted slightly pink. She had high cheekbones that suited her face well. She was about as tall as Melissa. The serving girl was also more petite than the princess, who was by no means fat, she just wasn't twiggy. Melissa thought about how much nicer she could look if only she would wear something a bit nicer and she would get her hair and makeup done, when she realized that Kaylee was speaking. "Why, your mother, Queen Sarah, of course," she stated as if it were blatantly obvious.

Melissa was a bit baffled herself now. "My mother? What do you mean?" Her question was simple enough, but Kaylee still held the same look of puzzlement.

Kaylee shook her head before speaking again. "I mean, you're just like your mother. She was kind, like you. She was a friend to all of the servants. My mother is still terribly upset about her death. She had always thought of Queen Sarah as her best friend," she told her sadly. Kaylee looked back up to Melissa's face. "I can't imagine how _you_ must be handling all of this."

Melissa looked down at her hands in her lap. This conversation was turning very gloomy very quickly. She took a deep breath and tried to change the topic as she climbed out of bed. "Well, enough of this depressing talk. What about you?" She asked as she walked over the vanity where a brush was waiting for her.

Kaylee looked perplexed by this question, as she too scrambled off the bed. "What about me?" She asked as she began to make the bed to look just as pleasant as it had the night before.

Melissa sat down on the stool awaiting her at the vanity and began brushing her relatively long hair. "I mean, tell me about yourself," she said simply as she started to untangle a particularly nasty snarl from her tresses.

To her surprise, Kaylee just laughed. "Oh, m'lady. You don't have time to hear me talk about myself right now. Breakfast will be served soon and His Majesty wished for you to join him this morning. You should be getting ready," she told her once she was satisfied with the way the bed looked.

Melissa just sighed and put down the brush. She had to put an end to this 'm'lady' business now. "Okay, Kaylee. You don't have to call me lady. Call me Mel. Just Mel. If were going to be friends I can't have your referring to me as Lady Mel or m'lady all the time," she told her playfully, but at the same time she was serious. She stood up from her stool and started walking in the direction of the bathroom. As she passed Kaylee she pointed a finger at her in mock severity and said, "Now don't you go thinking that I'm just going to drop the topic of you, 'cause I won't."

Kaylee giggled at how ridiculous she looked in her green pajama shirt and shorts with a fake serious look. The serving girl went back to the closet to gather a few gowns for Mel to chose from when she was finished with her shower, which she knew had already been started from the sound of the faucet and a bit of singing on the princess' part. She found three gowns that would suit the day well. She could already see much of Queen Sarah in her daughter, and if she was as much like her mother as Kaylee suspected, then today would be a day filled with exploring the castle and possibly even the Goblin City.

Melissa came out of the shower with a red bathrobe wrapped around her to find Kaylee waiting for her on a chair that had been placed next to her bed. She smiled at Melissa as she stepped out of the bathroom and came near the bed. "I hope you don't mind, but I've taken the liberty to pick out a few gowns that you might like to wear today," Kaylee told her as the princess looked upon the gowns with wide eyes.

All Melissa could do was to say, "That's fine," as she looked upon the beautiful dresses in awe. They were exquisite. Each one appeared to be just the right size for her slender waist and modest curves. One of them was a purple, v-neck gown with lace trimmings along every edge. The sleeves were three quarter lengths and the dress itself would have fallen to her ankles. Another one held different shades of lovely greens and had outlines of leaves stitched into it, making it look very much like a forest. The last one was the one that Melissa chose to wear. It was a peach color mixed with shades of pale pink to make the dress look very feminine. The sleeves were long and wide at her wrist, giving them plenty of room within the sleeves. The dress was a v-neck that hid her chest quite well and fell to her ankles. Her outfit was complete with a pair of peach shoes that had a small heel, giving her just another inch or two of height.

She stepped in front of the mirror when she was finished. The girl staring back at her was beautiful. The princess stood at about five feet eight inches – with the added inch from the shoes heel. Her face had a bit of mascara and lip gloss on and was framed nicely with her sun-tinted brunette hair which fell scarcely beyond shoulder length. She noticed now that she did have her mother's face, all except for her eyes, which were identical to her fathers. Melissa smiled at her reflection and turned to Kaylee, who grinned at her as well. "Well," Melissa started. "I guess it's time for breakfast then." Kaylee nodded her agreement and began to lead her to the dining room, where the king awaited them.

As they walked down the many halls to the dining room, Melissa gazed at the many painting along the walls. Many were of Jareth and her mother. Some were of her and Sarah. There were even a few of Jareth and Melissa. She saw many of her mother while she had been running the Labyrinth. One of the paintings that Melissa particularly liked was one that depicted Sarah introducing a young Melissa to Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus. The princess also noticed that there were very few windows along the hall. The only lighting was from candles that lined the walls or even a few lights that held the same magical glow as the chandelier in Melissa's room. Those lights, Melissa noticed, were very common in the hallways that were decorated with portraits and paintings.

It wasn't long before they had reached the dining hall. Kaylee told Melissa to wait outside a moment for her introduction. The princess wondered why she would need an introduction to sit down at breakfast with her father, but maybe that was just the way things worked. Not twenty seconds after Kaylee had passed through the doors to give the princess' introduction had she returned to give Melissa permission to go on in, which she promptly did after a brief thank you to her friend.

Upon entering the dining room Melissa's jaw just about dropped – something that seemed to be happening an awful lot in this place – and her eye's widened. The room was huge and it held a wooden rectangular table that looked as though it could seat at least fifty guests with room to spare. The room itself was adorned with unnumbered windows and several paintings of the Labyrinth and three portraits of the noble's. One was of Jareth and it resided on the wall directly behind him at the far end of the table. Another one was of Sarah, and this one rested directly across from the king's. The third portrait was of Melissa as she was now: eighteen years old, in a peach gown, her hair in slight waves, and smiling politely. The only difference was that each of these royals had on a crown or tiara, and Princess Melissa was no exception. "You really do seem to have a fascination with these pictures, am I right?"

Melissa was snapped back to reality upon hearing her father speak. She looked over to where he was sitting and nodded once. He gestured to a seat directly below the portrait of her, which was precisely centered on one of the longer sides of the table. Jareth turned and peered curiously towards her. "So, Melissa, any questions?" he asked simply.

Melissa took her gaze from the room once more to look at him and give her response. "Yes, actually," she said. "Let's start with you and mom. I already know about the Labyrinth. But what happened afterwards?" _Finally, a chance to get some answers around here._

Jareth nodded and looked pleased. "Well, you just get right to the point don't you? I suppose you're even more like your mother than I first thought." After saying this, he noticed her grin widen immensely, which made his smile grow as well. "After solving the Labyrinth, Sarah and Toby returned to their home aboveground. That first night back was the first time I ever allowed her mirror's magic to be used. I believe you know the one. It sits atop some form of a dresser I believe?"

Comprehension dawned on Melissa's face upon hearing this. "So I really did see Hoggle in the mirror! _I'm not crazy!"_ Melissa shouted this last statement with evident enthusiasm. The intensity of her scream was followed by a shocked look on Jareth's part and a few clangs from the pots and pans in the kitchen not too far away apparently. It seemed that the princess' scream had sent quite a few of the cooks jumping.

"No, Melissa. You are not now, nor have you ever been crazy," Jareth began. "But I must say, the level's that your voice can reach are quite astonishing," he said bringing a hand to his ear in mock distress. Melissa's cheeks were colored pink after this statement. "But, we should return to the topic at hand. Your mother's mirror held some magic, just enough to allow her to communicate from one world to the other. I had placed that magic within there after seeing her in the park for the first time. She had been reading _that_ book and I noticed right away how absorbed in it she was. After seeing her there the first time, I came back everyday to see if she would return."

Melissa decided – much to Jareth's chagrin – to interject. "Don't tell me the almighty Goblin King was a stalker!"

Jareth eyes narrowed a bit before continuing. "No, Melissa. I was not stalking. I was merely waiting for her. She had an obvious love for the Labyrinth. _That_ she made no secret of. She came back soon, and I was there waiting for her. After a while, I followed her home and saw how she loved that mirror. That is precisely what enticed me to place a small amount of magic in it."

He paused a moment to give Melissa a chance to respond. She did not disappoint. "Okay. So, you follow her home, put magic in her mirror – very snow white, by the way – and she wishes for you to take Toby away, she wins him back, the magic in the mirror comes out, then what?"

He smiled mysteriously upon hearing this. "So curious Melissa. But, yes, you have everything correct. Now, that night, her friends, Ludo, Sir Didymus, and Hogbrain-"

"Hoggle," Melissa said instinctively.

Jareth's smirk grew. She really was exactly like her mother. "They all saw her that night. But once they left, she had felt alone. The next morning when she woke up, she was anxious to get back to school to see her aboveground friends. But what she found was vanity, carelessness, and pettiness. She had risen above what they thought, said, and did. The next few weeks went by with the same loneliness and depression. She went to her school during the day, went to the park to complete that homework that was given out, and at night, she would speak with her friends in the mirror. Almost exactly two months after she beat the Labyrinth, I appeared in her mirror instead of Higgle and the others." He waited expectantly once this was said.

"It's Hoggle," Melissa said tiredly. She could tell he was just trying to annoy her, but she still had to correct him.

Suddenly, Jareth threw back his head and laughed, which quite surprised Melissa. She hadn't been expecting this sort of reaction from him at all. When he was done, about a minute later, he said, "You really are just like your mother. Never could call _Hoggle_ by the wrong name and get away with it. But, anyway, I came to see her instead of those three. I offered her a chance to come back to the Labyrinth if she wished to, which she did. I told her that I would allow her to finish her high school education before coming to live here permanently if that was her wish. Until that time, she would be free to come and go between the worlds as she pleased. I told her that if she wanted that, all she needed to do was wish for it, and she did. The next three years passed with her coming to the Labyrinth every weekend and her friends and I coming to see her every other night. Soon, Sarah's distrust of me disappeared. Over time, she grew fonder of me, as I did for her. Eventually, that fondness grew to care, and care grew to love. Within the first year of your mother's life here, we married. The next year was when she informed me that she was with child. Not long after her twentieth birthday, you were born."

Something seemed wrong with this to Melissa. "Well, if you two both lived here, why couldn't I just grow up here? Why did mom go back?" she asked, genuinely confused. She was sure that growing up in this magical land would have been much more fun than growing up aboveground.

Jareth had been expecting this question. "The day you were born, your mother and I were informed that because you were half mortal, you would have to wait to live underground you had reached the same point in your life that Sarah had. She brought you here to visit when you were young enough to still believe in this place. As soon as your belief faded, however, your visits here had to stop. Your mother wanted you to have as normal a life as possible, so naturally, she couldn't have you telling your friends that your mother had taken you to a place with magical creatures and castles, and so she made sure that you believed that all of those little trips here were merely dreams. She would still speak with her friends whenever she had the chance, but she stopped after you walked in on her having a conversation with Hedgwart."

Melissa glared at him. "His name is _Hoggle_!" she declared loudly.

Waving her interruption aside, he continued. "Yes, yes. Hoggle then. After that, she told him that she wouldn't be able to speak with him until you had graduated. Occasionally, I would visit, but that had to stop as well, as my magic was beginning to rub off on you. After your graduation, you were supposed to go to your grandparents' house and she would have used the mirror to introduce you to her friends. Then, you would have been brought here, to begin your life as an underground princess."

Melissa cut him off once more. "Okay, so, you're saying that I couldn't come her until I had graduated, because that is when mom came to live here?" Seeing his nod, she continued. "Alright. Now, what about your magic rubbing off on me? Why didn't it rub off on mom?"

Jareth sighed and looked out one of the windows closest to him. Melissa followed his gaze to see an incredibly blue sky stretching across miles of Labyrinth and, closer to the castle, the Goblin City. Jareth's words brought her out of her viewing. "You have magic in your blood. Sarah did not. Because the magic was already within you, the surrounding magic was also drawn to you. Usually it takes much, and believe me when I say _much_ longer for magic to be rubbed off on someone. Within a few hundred years of marriage a couple's may be able to access the other's magic if they have a strong enough bond. My magic rubbed off on you so early because one, I am your father, and two, the Labyrinth's magic respects Sarah, therefore it eventually allowed her access to it, but since you are her daughter – not to mention mine – it was also drawn to you. These two factors made you more susceptible to my magic. Do you understand?"

Melissa simply nodded, trying to digest all of this new information. Jareth looked as though he was going to say something else, but two goblins were now walking from the kitchen door towards them, each carrying a tray with a silver cover. They walked towards the royals placed the trays in front of them before lifting off the covers, bowing deeply, and exiting the room. Melissa looked down at her plate. Before her was a steaming, ham and cheese omelet and a few slices of bacon: her favorite. Two more goblins promptly entered and each placed a glass in front of the two. Melissa's held orange juice. She looked over to Jareth and saw that his meal was the exact same as hers, with one exception: he had sausage instead of bacon. "I thought you might like a breakfast like this before sampling underground delicacies," he told her plainly.

She nodded and picked up a fork. "Thanks," she told him while cutting off a slice of omelet. After tasting it, she realized how much better it was than anything she had ever tasted. It was steamy, but not hot, the ham wasn't burnt, and the cheese was melted to perfection. There was some sort of extra spice, an herb, maybe, but whatever it was, it completed the taste.

Jareth however, had not taken a bite of his breakfast. He merely stared at his daughter in awe. "Your welcome, but you needn't thank me for feeding you. Did you think I wouldn't allow my own daughter food?" He was quite stunned at the fact that she had thanked him for presenting her with food. After all, she couldn't have thought he would have done otherwise.

Melissa swallowed and looked over at Jareth. "No, it's not that, it's just, I don't know. This place is so formal looking. Whenever mom and I went to a place like this I just automatically thanked the person who was buying and the people who were serving. It's just a habit, I guess."

Jareth nodded, but said nothing else on the matter and began to eat himself. The room was silenced as the two ate and drank. This caught Melissa's attention, and after swallowing the bit of bacon she had in her mouth, she began to laugh. Jareth looked up in confusion and asked, "What's so funny?"

She managed to still the laughter within a few more giggles. "Mom always said you could tell when people were hungry because as soon as they sit down to eat, it gets very quiet," she told him with a fond memory of her mother and her sitting at the small dining room table laughing over this when they had become too full to eat another bite.

Jareth chuckled a bit before taking a sip of his orange juice. "You are quite like her you know," he said, mentally comparing her to her mother.

Melissa, too, took a drink of her juice. "So I've been told."

The king's face became more serious after a moment of thought. "Melissa," he started off. From his tone, Melissa could tell he wasn't fond of the subject he was bringing up. "I hope you don't mind, but tonight there is a rather pressing appointment that you must accompany me to."

Melissa looked skeptical. "What kind of pressing appointment?" she asked suspiciously. There was no way she was going to any kind of Goblin meeting. No way. No how. Sitting in a room filled with goblins was not her idea of a good time.

Jareth sighed before continuing just as sullenly as before. "The Elvin Prince, Leonardo, is celebrating his twentieth birthday tonight. We, as the Rulers of the Labyrinth, are expected to attend. Seeing as how you have just arrived, however, you may be excused from going," he told her giving her one of those jealous, oh-how-I-wish-I-were-in-your-shoes looks. She could tell he and the elf prince were not exactly buddy-buddy.

Melissa visibly relaxed upon hearing this. "Oh. So, is it like a party or something?" She was now actually curious about it.

Her father shrugged. "I guess you could call it that. We refer to it as a ball. A masked ball, to be precise. His mother decided to be old-fashioned while planning it"

She thought it was odd that his mother would be panning his party, but then again, she found a lot of things odd in this place. "Sure. I'll go. Sounds like fun." She managed to make her voice much calmer than she actually was. Then, she put a hand up to her chest in mock alarm and said in a very girly voice, "But whatever shall I wear!" A goblin who had apparently been watching them from the kitchen doors laughed, but scurried behind the doors after earning a fierce look from Jareth.

He turned his attention back to his daughter. "Oh, believe me. It's not as fun as it sounds. The Elvin Queen is not exactly pleased with us," he told her, ignoring the fact that she had just made a performing joke.

This puzzled Melissa to no end. "Why is she mad at us?" She asked with genuine bewilderment.

Jareth looked out the window once more before looking back to her. "Well, it's not really_ us_. It's more me who she's mad at. She seemed to have it in her head that we should have married to join our kingdoms instead of me marrying Sarah and her marrying Trident as she did. I can't imagine she'd welcome you with open arms, you being Sarah's and my daughter and all, but there's always a chance I guess."

Melissa nodded. "Oh. Well, I'd still like to go. I've never actually been to a masked ball before." Excitement had begun to well up inside her. She had always loved hearing about these fairy tale balls with beautiful gowns and glass slippers and handsome princes. Besides, she thought she should at least try to be friendly to some of the other nobles.

Jareth just shrugged once more and said, "Very well. It's at eight. You should be ready by seven – or possibly, since you're Sarah's daughter, you should try be ready by six," he told her with a smirk.

His daughter simply glared at him. "Oh, ha ha. You're a riot, Jareth." Then it hit her. "What do I call you now?"

He looked at her questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do I call you Jareth, or dad, or your Gobliness or...I don't know. What should I call you?" she pressed.

Jareth thought a moment. He hadn't thought of that. "Jareth. You can call me Jareth. Or dad, when you're ready to." He didn't want her to call him 'dad' if she wasn't comfortable with it.

Melissa nodded. "Alright. Jareth."

The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence. Jareth got up to attend to some of his duties not long after the conversation had ended, leaving Melissa to finish her meal in silence before deciding to wander about the castle. "Well, why not? It is my home too after all. I should at least know my way around," she told herself firmly. But little did she know, another presence keeping a close eye on the princess had other plans for her.


End file.
